Assorted Dysfunctional Plot Bunnies
by RhysThornbery
Summary: Basically a place to store my non-Harry Potter plot bunnies.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Right, so here's my first Non-Harry Potter Plot Bunny. Part 1 of 3, I believe.

* * *

 **August 30th 2552 A.D**

 **UNSC Fortress World Reach**

 **Epsilon Eridani System**

The ramp dropped with a hum, letting in the light of daylight and the cacophonous roar of the point defence weapon on the ONI Sahara class Prowler, _Iram of the Pillars_. Sergeant Jonathan Cole an ODST deployed with the stealth ship, was glad for the noise damping abilities of his helmet as the turret's pulse laser tore at an ailing Covenant Phantom ahead of them.

He, along with his squad, didn't need to be told what to do once the ramp kissed the earth. Rushing down it onto the arid soil gun up and thundering as he spotted hostiles near his objective.

His modified MA37 assault rifle ripping a Covenant grunt to the ground, causing the little freak's methane tank to explode in the process. He took down another two grunts as the Phantom overhead finally gave in and listed heavily to the side sweeping away low over the combat zone to impact on the ground off to the left with a roar as it's generators exploded in a plume of blue and violet flame.

He almost didn't hear the strangled yell of that last Elite as it staggered under the fusillade of automatic weapons fire directed against it. It's shields popping with a crack before the elite tumbled backward riddled with holes.

As satisfying as killing Covenant was after everything they'd done to humanity, they were running short on time and had other matters to attend to. He barked an order to his squad and they fanned out to chase off the remaining Covenant infantry while he hurried towards the objective, where she lay struggling on the ground. The sole surviving human in the area prior to their arrival.

Not just any human though, a Spartan, one of humanity's best. As least she was, when she wasn't bleeding all over the place, after having eight kinds of hell kicked out of her by aliens. She was badly off, he could tell that much even as he slid in beside her. "Medic!" He bellowed and saw one of the ship's medics was already hurrying down the ramp with a first aid kit.

He turned his attention back to their perimeter while the medic got to work, but still noticed the man injecting pain killers and enough bio-foam to hold together a swiss cheesed elephant in through the Spartan's armour ports.

Then it was time to move again, him calling his team over to help haul the woman back aboard the ship. Not that it was easy, she weighed a monumental amount in all her armour. The team had to work together just to drag the wounded spartan aboard.

The ship lifted off as soon as she was up the ramp, which closed behind them. It wasn't over for them yet though. Hauling one of humanity's super-soldiers to the med-bay was going to be a task.

Worth it though, for a hero who had saved thousands.

* * *

The deck shifted beneath them, causing the crew to stagger as the vessel started evasive maneuvers. Inertial dampers and artificial gravity were all well and good, but there was only so much they could do for a crew when the little ship they were riding in went into a roll in an attempt to escape it's pursuers.

The medics were doing their best with the limited supplies in the small ship's medical bay but they were hard pressed to stabilize the wounded Spartan under such conditions.

An ONI prowler of any class is a fast and agile vessel, but it's stealth capabilities were limited in broad daylight while in atmosphere. A small wing of banshees had soon picked up their trail as they'd attempted to make for open void. Where their escort was hiding, waiting to help them escape the system.

Once they'd made it into space of course. Such vessels wouldn't be around for long should they break cover so early and attempt to enter atmosphere. So it was down to the Prowler and a pair of atmospheric fighters the ground side resistance had scrambled to get them out of there.

The fighters were doing their best, but they were badly outnumbered. They managed to take down four of the Covenant Banshee fighters on their first pass. And had managed to shoot down another two before the first UNSC fighter took a hit, shearing off it's wing and sending it tumbling ground-ward. The remaining fighter was fighting to stay in the air as much as the prowler was, but finally they too were shot down, sacrificing themselves to punch a hole through the remaining fighters to allow the Prowler to make a break upwards.

The medics sighed somewhat in relief as the ships movements stabilized somewhat as it started to climb. For the moment it was ahead of it's foes, in atmosphere it's larger more bulky frame was a liability but out in low atmosphere and vacuum it's heavier engines were allowing it to widen the gap between themselves and their pursuers.

* * *

 **UNSC _Stand and Deliver_**

 **In Orbit of UNSC Fortress World Reach**

 **Epsilon Eridani System**

They would be running then, Captain Nathaniel Hale reflected tired, there was no other word for it, no comfortable lie they could tell themselves in a situation like this. The UNSC fleet around Reach was in shambles now. What remained of it in this system, and the forces on the planets surface has either been scattered or had been wiped out in their entirety.

To many in the UNSC, it seemed like they'd never stopped running since the beginning of the conflict between themselves and the alien coalition known as the Covenant. Countless human worlds had burned, and untold billions had been slaughtered, all in the name of the alien gods.

Reach was no different, though they had hoped and prayed that it would be. It had been one of the UNSC fleets' primary staging areas in their long and brutal war. In truth the military at Reach had given a good accounting of itself, all told, inflicting extreme casualties on the hostile fleets before being overwhelmed. The marines had done their best to slow the enemy advance on the ground allowing civilians to escape, all in all to little avail.

The mood aboard the UNSC support carrier _Stand and Deliver,_ was grim to say the least. They were all but alone now, the only remaining organized UNSC Naval forces in system following the flight of the _Pillar of Autumn_. This little flotilla included them, the heavy frigates _Atlanta, Saratoga_ and _Caesar,_ and the ONI prowler _Iram of the Pillars._ Not exactly a force to be reckoned with when matched against the Covenant's own marshalled ships. Especially considering the dozen or so civilian transports, freighters and liners which were sheltering with them.

The problem lay in the technological superiority of the enemy, while under the right conditions a UNSC vessel could dish out a great deal of damage, maybe even more than the Covenant's own weapons, the Covenant's shielding and plasma technology allowed them greater adaptability once within range of the human ships. Head to head, their little fleet of survivors hiding among the wreckage of a UNSC ship graveyard would not stand a chance against the alien juggernauts.

In fact, in all likelihood their little flotilla would have already been destroyed had they not put in so much effort into simply going unnoticed. They had floated here for days, among the wrecks and corpses of friends running on minimal power doing everything in their abilities to hide their emissions from sensors. They would not be here at all if not for their critical mission.

This task force had one overriding imperative, to secure and evacuate any and all UNSC high value assets. However, as the Covenant glassed the planet, using high powered energy projectors to scorch the planet's surface, more and more of these assets vanished in the inferno and more civilian ships fled in hopes of finding safety. The last asset that had been on the planet that they knew of was en route to them now, hidden aboard the _Iram_ as it slipped back into orbit and towards their position.

In the small stealth ship's medical bay, under the labouring care of the ONI surgeons was the last Spartan to have remained on Reach. A genetically modified super soldier designation Sierra B-312, Spartan Elizabeth, formerly Noble six.

The atmosphere aboard the bridge of the _Stand and Deliver,_ the flotilla's command ship was tense, and Captain Nathaniel Hale was as nervous as any of them, though he did hide it better than most. As soon as the _Iram_ was secured to the underslung docking cradle they would begin preparations to depart. A process which would require sparking up his little fleet's primary reactors and spooling up their jump drives in order to enter slipspace and make their run for home.

Naturally, igniting a few fusion reactors would not go unnoticed by the enemy, not when they were so close at hand. An enemy flotilla drifted not a hundred kilometers away, an ORS class heavy cruiser, a pair of CAR class frigates, and an SDV heavy corvette. The cruiser alone could smash their little formation to pieces in open combat.

This sense of nervous anticipation had caused an unnatural hush to fall over the crew. As though they feared the enemy would sense their preparations even in vacuum if they were too loud. Nathaniel couldn't blame them given everything he'd seen.

* * *

The Prowler streaked onward, hastening towards the debris field where they knew the small fleet of reinforcements waited. Time was growing short though. They knew they'd been spotted, and could see the Banshees must have called in about them, because a Covenant formation was headed their way.

Without shields of any sort, the light plating used to enhance their stealth capabilities would be worse than useless in a fight. They couldn't afford to take even a single hit from the much heavier vessels making their way towards them.

Within it's medical bay, the field surgeons and medics had finally managed, with difficulty to get the armour off their patient. No mean feat considering their current conditions and how hard it is to open Spartan Mjolnir armour under ideal circumstances.

They began cutting at the wounded soldier's under-suit as the crew back on the bridge tight beamed a message to the waiting fleet. Warning them to be ready to let them dock.

They were only a hundred kilometres away when they received confirmation.

* * *

 ** _UNSC Stand and Deliver_**

 **In Orbit of UNSC Fortress World Reach**

 **Epsilon Eridani System**

The Captain sighed in relief as one of his officers turned and gave him the thumbs up. The prowler was docked in one of _Stand and Deliver's_ bays. " _Iram_ requests permission to begin transfer of it's cargo Captain. Asset Sierra B-312 is in need of urgent medical care. They're also requesting permission to transfer AI ADT 6849-9 to the _Stand and_ Deliver sir." His comms specialist reported quietly, she appeared nervous, glancing at the holographic display which currently showed the space surrounding Reach, her eyes locking onto that cluster of Covenant ships which was closing on the debris field.

He nodded, he'd been expecting that in all honesty, reports prior to the extraction of the Spartan had her situation as highly tenuous. She'd been surrounded at the time the EVAC ship had been sent to her location. "Permission granted on both counts. Joan, you mind opening some space for our guest?" he asked glancing up at the AI's projection pedestal.

Joan, was the _Stand and Deliver's_ resident Smart AI. She had taken a liking to the ship's chivalrous name, and had chosen her identity accordingly. Adopting the persona of Joan of Arc. Though she obviously lacked the real Joan's personality. She appeared in her avatar form as a young woman clad in light armour.

The avatar in question materialized on the plinth and she bowed, before stepping aside allowing "Auntie Dot" to materialize. Dot usually, due to her wide spread and varied purview back on Reach had tended towards a simple avatar in order to preserve computational power for her many responsibilities. Her abilities were often taxed enough that she was mistaken for a so called "Dumb AI". Here however, with her processes less strained she had adopted her chosen form.

Auntie Dot, was for all appearances a woman just short of middle age, garbed in the sort of casual clothes that one might expect to see on a civilian woman these days, her hair pulled back into a rough knot showcasing a gentle and friendly face. "My thanks Captain Hale, for your timely rescue and that of my charge."

He just chuckled. "We're not out of here yet. But your thanks are appreciated. Now, if you two could coordinate with the _Caesar, Saratoga_ and _Atlanta_ we need to get moving, and fast, before that formation catches on. Make sure the Civies are ready to run too."

The two AI's nodded or bowed. Joan was the one who spoke up however. "It shall be done Captain. In communication with the other ships now…Confirmed. All ships' fusion reactors primed, awaiting order to begin primary ignition."

He nodded, and considered his crew. "All crew to combat stations, set condition red throughout the ship." He ordered, and the crew began to hurry about their preparations. The lights dimmed and one of his officers began relaying his command over the ship wide comm. He turned back to the AIs. Strictly speaking, seeing as neither were truly housed within the pedestal, he need not actually turn to look at them, but he did none the less. "Begin primary ignition."

He felt the ship hum slightly beneath his feet as the primary reaction kicked off, the ships compensators soon smoothing out the vibration till it was no longer notable. "Begin spooling up the slip space engines and divert power to the primary guns. I want to be able to shoot back if they come for us."

The AI's nodded, the ships primary armament was a pair of heavy magnetic accelerator cannons, as such they required a massive charge in their capacitors to fire. The problem was that such capacitors took time to fully charge, not something you wanted to try and do when the enemy might be bearing down on you.

An alarm whooped and one of the sensor operators, a lieutenant stood quickly, grabbing his attention. "Captain, enemy formation has detected us, they just ran a sensor sweep over us and are now turning."

"Understood, all hands to battle stations, marines on standby to repel boarders."

Another alarm howled and a pair of marines rushed onto the bridge taking up positions at the door, whilst checking their weapons.

"Enemy formation accelerating." Auntie Dot reported soberly.

"All ships move out of the debris field. Time to full Slip space drive charge?"

Dot paused but a moment, likely consulting the data. "three minutes, enemy intercept in one minute."

He nodded. "Give us firing solutions on that heavy cruiser. Relay solutions for the other ships to the rest of the flotilla."

The AI nodded. "Done, firing solution complete. MAC guns fully charged in thirty seconds." She reported.

"Dot you're in charge of point defence, Joan load all forward archer pods and get me a firing solution, I want our first volley landing just after the MAC barrage."

The horizon, such as it was out in space cleared as they pressed outwards through the wreckage, the pale purple-red dots of the covenant vessels growing larger all the time. "Confirmed, solution input." There was a notable pause, the enemy ships drawing closer and the two frigates escorting the _Stand and Deliver_ pulling along side as they too exited the field.

"Begin jump calculations." He ordered and took his place in the command chair.

He saw the wink and sparkle begin in the enemy formation, so Joan's next words didn't surprise him when they came. "Enemy ships are charging weapons, hostile single ships deploying…"

"MAC guns charged you may fire when ready." Dot reported a moment later. "All ships report prepared for combat."

He paused, if only for a beat and then exhaled, this was it. "Dot, Joan, weapons free, fire at will."

There was the muffled rumble and thump and soon the sky ahead of them was filled with white contrails of hundreds of missiles, launched from both his own vessel and his escorts. They closed rapidly with the enemy formation. Moments before they struck, the twin hammer on anvil sound of the MAC guns reverberated through the ship.

To the naked eye trying to make sense of seeing something moving an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, the MAC rounds were nothing but a brief flash of light lancing out towards the enemy. A moment later followed by the undeniable flashes of impacts. The Frigate's rounds struck their counterparts dead on, directly on their bows, followed within milliseconds by the firework like crackle and rippling wave of fire that heralded the missiles landing on target. One of them, perhaps the one which had begun charging it's shields the latest twisted and writhed as the MAC rounds from Atlanta and Saratoga punctured it's underpowered shield and rendered it vulnerable to the missiles which tore at it moments later. The other frigate's shields collapsed soon after but the damage was less severe, with fewer missiles getting through.

As for the attack on the cruiser it was, if anything, even more spectacular to watch. The _Stand and Deliver's_ twin heavy MAC guns hammered the enemy shield, the strain of absorbing the first blow allowing the second which followed mere moments behind to pass through relatively unhindered. There was a great gout of flame as the round tore through the heavy cruisers starboard side from bow to stern. Not a killing blow but not something the vessel could just shrug off either. The missile struck moments later, again the shields struggled to hold against the fusillade. Catching the balance but allowing a small number to impact against it's exposed hull.

"Begin recharging the MAC guns, all ahead full, I want to blow past them and then make the jump." He instructed. Immediately his ears were met with the sound of confirmations from his crew and the AI.

They pressed forward, the ship surging beneath them. "Status of the enemy fleet?"

"One CAR class frigate inoperable, the second is still functioning but it's forward guns are damaged. The Corvette is untouched as yet, and the Heavy Cruiser has sustained a serious hull breached on it's starboard side. A number of that flank's weapon systems are off line, we have plotted a course along that side." Joan reported.

"Sir the enemy is preparing to fire." Dot warned.

Sure enough he could see the hellish fire of the enemies' plasma lines lighting up. "Time to jump?" He barked.

"Thirty seconds till charged, but we need to get beyond the enemy position first." An officer warned.

He nodded. "Very well, auto turrets, deck guns and missile pods fire at will…"

"Incoming fire!" Barked Dot.

Sure enough as the thump of missiles launching once again filled the air, bolts of plasma streaked off the enemies bows. "Evasive maneuvers." he instructed and the ship rumbled as it fired emergency thrusters shunting it aside allowing the enemy torpedoes to streak past. It'd be back around soon enough but a projectile like that took time to turn around.

"Alert! Frigate _Caesar_ has taken a strike on it's primary fusion reactor, she's losing atmosphere…" a groan rose from the crew at the AI's words, a strike on the reactor would prevent the ship from jumping. That she was losing atmosphere was even worse.

"Sir the enemy corvette is turning to follow us…The other ships are closing in on the C _aesar…"_ Joan reported soberly. "We are passing below the enemy formation now."

Sure enough the armoured bulk of the Covenant Heavy Cruiser, twisted above them as it turned to focus on the ailing frigate. "Alert, frigate _Caesar_ has set in a collision course with the hostile frigate…" There was a flash off the port side a few moments later.

"Frigate Caesar has been destroyed, it impacted the enemy frigate amid ship, both ships have been rendered inoperable…" Dot paused then nodded. "We are clear for slip space transition both remaining vessels prepare for transition…" She declared as a flash of light ignited in front of them the whirling nimbus of slip space opening before them. "If you want to jump…

"Hmmm, curious…"

Nathaniel's eyes cut sharply to the AI. "What?"

"Minor ripple in the slip space threshold." She explained. "Shouldn't stop us from jumping though." She assured him then paused. "Frigates _Atlanta_ and _Saratoga_ are away…"

* * *

 **Covenant Vessel _Prophet's Flame_**

 **In Orbit of Human World**

 **Designated Reach**

The Sangheili ship master Garael T'suum swore angrily under his breath as the cursed human vessels vanished one after the other from sensors. "What happened!" He demanded, his tone tight, perhaps fearing the answer he already suspected.

One of his lieutenants, a major by the name of Careaus T'char consulted his readouts before reporting. "They've fled into slip space. Ship Master, Chieftain Nyrrevus has also jumped away!"

He fought the urge to curse again. That the humans had fled was no great surprise, it was their way when so hopelessly outmatched. He had however hoped that he would cripple or destroy more of their ships before they did.

The battle had…not gone as planned to put it mildly. The ship master in charge of the _Horripedous_ had failed to charge his shields in a timely fashion and so had been destroyed by the primitives' opening volley. _Termagant_ had weathered the assault better only to in turn be destroyed when one of the enemy had sacrificed itself by colliding with them in order to buy time for it's compatriots. His own vessel had taken it's blows well enough but had been unable to stop the three remaining human warships from escaping into slip space. That the unarmed 'civilian' craft had escaped as well was merely salt in the wound.

Two frigates in exchange for one of the human's own was not a worthy trade. That the corvette which had so recently been under his command had chased off after foes who so severely outweighed it, only assured it's own destruction.

His eyes flashed with ire as he considered that. When the _Faith's Hammer_ under it's Jiralhanae ship master had been assigned to him against his wishes, he'd been assured the vessels clan of savages were more circumspect than their brethren, this appeared to have been a falsehood.

"Very well, secure from battle readiness. Dispatch recovery teams to the _Termagant_ and _Horripedous_ perhaps some yet live aboard them…" He paused considering. "Communications, please relay the results of the battle to command. I shall be in my quarters."

* * *

 **UNSC _Stand and Deliver_**

 **Slipspace, Location Indeterminate**

Dot cocked a hip as she stared off into space, or rather into the void that was slip space. "Huh, there it is again, Joan would you mind checking my readings?" She requested. Over the last two and a half hours during which they had been flying through slip space they had encountered no less than twelve…ripples, in slip space around them. Nothing serious, merely a tremor which caused the ship's sensors to run wild for a moment before settling.

Joan paused her own routines, shifting some of her processing power to check her compatriot's findings before resuming her work. All told this took less than a millisecond, and would be completely unnoticeable by the crew had they been watching. "I agree, they're accelerating. But what they mean I honestly could not say."

"Should I alert the Captain?" Dot wondered.

Joan gave the AI equivalent of a shrug, not even bothering to depict one through her avatar. "Regardless of it's concerning frequency, there is nothing that could be done about it save dropping out of slipspace. As we have no way of knowing exactly where we are or what is in the vicinity until we reach our destination dropping out now could have dire consequences. We'd also run the risk of losing the _Atlanta,_ the _Saratoga_ and all the civilian ships." She noted.

Dot nodded. "I know that, but do you think the Captain would prefer to be informed anyways? You know him better than I."

Joan paused considering. A process which took a full second to manage, an absurdly long silence as far as AI's were concerned. But then again the task of predicting a human's behaviour was not usually an easy one. "No, in the past three days he has received precisely three hours of REM sleep, he needs his rest to perform his duties efficiently. I will inform him once he awakens."

Dot signalled understanding. "And what of the rest of the crew? I do not have access to the med bay. I am curious as to Noble Six's status."

"Stabilizing, she suffered severe trauma prior to extraction." Joan reported before forwarding the reports to the other AI.

Dot reviewed them and sighed. "I'll note it in the logs." She paused and then straightened, her voice coming through the ships intercoms when she spoke again. "Attention all crew, ETA to destination twelve hours."

* * *

 **SDV class Covenant Corvette**

 ** _Faith's Hammer_**

 **Slipspace, Location Indeterminate**

Ship Master and Chieftain of the Jiralhanae Nyrrevus resettled himself himself in his command chair, and surveyed the bridge around him. "Are you certain?" He asked eventually. Trying to ignore the staring eyes of his Sangheili advisor Solan Varitenee'. The 'Elite' had been silent since they'd jumped. It was unnerving.

The Jiralhanae Ultra Captain, a large heavily armoured pack mate name Tytanus nodded from where he knelt before him, his head bowed. "Yes my chieftain, I had the Huragok check the calculations myself, navigator Huriat was correct. The slipspace disturbances are accelerating."

He nodded, he had suspected as much, Huriat, despite being young and somewhat headstrong was a dutiful and thoughtful navigator. "Very well, did the Huragok have a solution or explanation?"

The Captain shook his head again. "No chieftain, it was unlike anything Heavier than Some has encountered before. He has no solution beyond dropping out of slip space…"

The chieftain grumbled to himself. He had not been terribly eager to chase the UNSC on a blind jump even if there was only one star system of note along their projected path. But he'd known his duty, and what was expected of him.

He suspected given their casualties prior to their departure that the Sangheili Ship Master was likely cursing him for chasing after the foe. But what choice did he have? If he had not he would have been accused by that same shipmaster of cowardice for allowing the enemy to escape. Most Sangheili made no effort to hide their distaste for his kind, nor that they desired him stripped of rank and cast from the navy.

This way at least any appeals he made to the leadership might bear more weight. Assuming Solan didn't contradict his account…

Abandoning the chase now due to a small anomaly in their jump would ruin that plan however, especially if he down jumped into the middle of a debris field and shredded his vessel. "ETA to destination?"

"Eight hours Chieftain"

He nodded and pushed to his feet. "Very well, notify me when we are due to arrive. I will be in my cabin. For now, I wish not to be disturbed, unless something more serious arises…"

"Yes, Chieftain."

He paused briefly considering the Elite, where he stood nearby. "Ultra Varitenee', you have the bridge in my absence." He murmured, hoping the small display of good will would make a difference on that front.

Nyrrevus, and indeed all their kind had fought a long time for more equal treatment within the Covenant, that he'd been granted a new ship, and not an aging and decaying relic was a boon, that his ship had a Huragok, even if it was alone was something which ensured he had no intention of giving the Hierarchs the excuse to take away what they had given him.

He paced the halls, inspecting the crew he passed on his way to the cabin. His clan, the entirety of it, was aboard this vessel, they knew no other home now. Losing it would be unforgivable. When he opened the door to his chambers he was met with a cacophony of noise, and he smiled. Not that any human would recognize the gesture as such.

The hooting and howling of his youngest children abruptly trailed off as they spotted him, pausing as they realized he had returned home early. The noise once again erupted louder than ever as the cubs, six of them, stampeded towards their father.

Most were too young to be speaking, even the tallest only came up to his waist. Tecktus his oldest son. "Chieftain's Home!" he hollered as he wrapped himself around his sire's leg.

A light chuckle could be heard and Nyrrevus looked up to see his mate enter the room. "Nyr' you're early. I didn't expect you for another few cycles." She teased.

He grinned, in a fashion that for his kind could be considered charmingly roguish. "We are in slip space Myra, there is very little for me to do until we arrive at our destination. How are the young ones?"

Her expression softened a bit as she looked to the gathered cubs. "Well enough, though I think Tika' has a bit of a stomach ache. She ate too much during her morning meal."

He chuckled fondly, and poked the cub in question his youngest daughter, causing her to purr. "Just like her father then…"

Myra cocked her head curiously at him. "What troubles you Nyr' I can smell your worry."

He sighed wearily, growing serious, "The battle did not go well my mate. We lost two frigates claiming only one of the enemy's." He admitted. "The enemy command ship and it's remaining escorts fled."

She nodded, a stinging defeat for their side. "And now we chase them?"

"Yes, alone too if I'm not mistaken."

She looked troubled. "Can we defeat such foes?"

"I don't know, perhaps if we're lucky. I admit it is even odds on whether or not we will arrive at the same place they will, it was a blind jump."

She grimaced growling under her breath. "Garael, you had to pursue or risk him accusing you of cowardice in the line of duty, yes?"

Nyrrevus nodded stoically. "Yes, if nothing else we might be able to claim we gave chase this way."

Myra paused before she patted him consolingly on the shoulder. "I'll prepare you a small meal. It is nearly midday anyways. Perhaps we shall be fortunate and Prophets willing the humans will not be there when we arrive?"

He nodded dutifully, neither of them were very devout members of the faith in truth, submitting to the Covenant because it was tradition and their honour demanded they support the High Chieftains who were more stringent in their belief. "If the Prophets will it."

They silent for a time, before his mate spoke up. "What are their names?" She asked, and he looked to her in confusion. So she clarified. "The Human vessels, they always have such interesting names. So different from our own."

He nodded understanding. It was a quirk of Myra's personality that she took interest in such things, one he was fond of, so he often indulged her curiosity. " _Stand and Deliver, Saratoga_ and _Atlanta_ if the Luminary is to be believed." He relayed, his tongue stumbling somewhat over the alien words.

The Luminary was a curious device, modelled extensively around a backwards engineered Forerunner sensor suite, the device performed much of the identification and translation work for the ship and it's personnel.

Myra bobbed her head as she pondered those names. "I wonder what they mean?"

He shrugged. "Who knows, something heretical no doubt." He grumbled. After all wasn't everything with the humans? Or so the Prophets always said.

* * *

 **Eight Hours later**

 **Covenant Corvette _Faith's Hammer_**

 **Slipspace, Location Indeterminate**

Nyrrevus stamped tiredly onto the bridge, Solan finally calling for relief a short time previous. He had made the…mistake, once again, of settling in for a nap after his meal, and had slept away a good deal of the day. Something which always left him a bit grumpy, not to mention the crick he'd developed in his neck lying down as he had.

As it was, it was time to drop out of slip space and get their bearings. In all likelihood the humans would not be present, their FTL drives being notoriously slower than their Covenant counterparts. That was assuming this was the same destination as the one the Humans had intended.

"Dropping out of slip space in 3-2-1," Chanted the helmsman, then pressed the control cutting their drive and dropping back into the traditional three to four dimensions of reality.

A star appeared far in the distance as they exited, a planet nearer at hand, a small green and blue world with a pair of moons orbiting it. "Hostiles, position?" The Chieftain demanded thumping down into his chair.

There was an angry tone from one of the consoles and the operator growled a curse under his breath, before retrying his scan. Nyrrevus raised an amused brow at the Minor as he cursed again. That last imprecation against the console's mother had been as vulgar as it was amusing.

The console lit up red and again it made the angry tone. "Uh…No hostiles detected Chieftain." He assured his clansmen. "I just…the navigation system is being difficult. Permission to run a diagnostic?"

He waved his hand, granting permission. The immediate threat was absent he could relax at least a little for the moment.

He watched the small world ahead of them turn in the pale light of it's star. Again he heard the helmsman curse. "Chieftain, I believe we have a problem. Either we did not arrive at our intended destination or the sensors are faulty. May I get the Huragok to take a look at it?"

The Chieftain nodded, the vessel had sustained no damage in the previous battle and the engines were not faulty, the Huragok was likely tending to standard maintenance at the moment. "Permission granted helmsman Spath."

He considered the distant world as the helmsman spoke over the comm to the engineer. "Sensors, are their any life signs coming from that planet?" he asked pointing vaguely towards the planet.

There was a pause as the operator at that station worked. "Affirmative Chieftain, but we are too far away for a clear reading. Do you desire us to approach?"

Nyrrevus shook his head. If they could not get clear readings on the planet, neither could any there get readings on them. If the Humans had been so foolish as to lead them directly to one of their worlds, it would likely be defended as Reach had been, attacking it alone with his relatively small vessel would be suicide, no it was better to wait.

A few minutes later and the door onto the bridge slid open, the trilling whistles of the Huragok heralding it's arrival as it drifted towards the helmsman who was waving it over.

Huragok, were curious creatures, Nyrrevus reflected. They cared nothing for the typical activities of other sentient species, caring for discovery and the manipulation of machines instead. with a sort of naive innocence that even his kind tended to find somewhat charming.

The Huragok proceeded to the console and rapidly began disassembling it, a minute later rebuilding it before drifting to the luminary, and repeating the procedure. It then returned to the Helmsman and trilled mournfully to him, getting a low grumble in response before drifting towards the shipmaster's chair.

"I am sorry Chieftain, but I could not find any malfunction in the equipment you required me to examine." Heavier than Some trilled, his translation collar interpreting it for the Chieftain's ears. It's tentacles rolling and unrolling in distress.

"Then we did not arrive at our intended destination?" He clarified. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad for his plan to appease the Prophets.

The Huragok flailed in a decidedly negative fashion. "No Chieftain, this ship travelled the correct time in slip space on the correct vector. This is where we are supposed to be."

Nyrrevus felt his brow furrow in confusion. "Then why is the console reporting an error? Surely if we are where we were intended to be…"

The engineer was already warbling and flailing excitedly "While the course was correct, as was the travel time the astrogations readouts are not matching those we should be receiving given our position. We have arrived at the correct grid coordinates on the galactic map, but the stars do not align with those the Luminary predicted prior to jumping." The Huragok explained.

"Then the issue is with the Luminary." It was more of a statement than a question.

The creature jerked it's head side to side, "Negative. Luminary functioning properly, aside from consecrated alterations to identifications. This ship is where it is supposed to be, but where it is supposed to be is not here…" The engineer struggled to explain.

He blinked at the creature and sighed. "Engineer Heavier than Some, is it possible that the Luminary is mistaken, or that the…anomalies we encounter while in transit could cause such an error?"

The Huragok stilled. Then began flailing wildly trilling excitedly. "Luminary correct, no errors or malfunctions found. However, anomaly could account for issue, would need to run experiments…Warning, require more power to the Luminary, may I proceed?"

He waved his hand ushering the strange being off.

It was two hours later when the creature returned. "Chieftain, while inconclusive, results from diagnostics and experiments on the slipspace drive suggest the anomaly may indeed be responsible for the error detected. However no means exist to confirm hypothesis."

"I don't need confirmation. Can you explain what has happened?" He asked, feeling a headache coming on.

A bob of the head, "Slipspace is a secondary reality split from the reality ascribed by the traditional four dimensions." Heavier than Some explained patiently. "That is to say it is a different dimension unto itself. It is known from time to time to act in ways not typical of normal space and time. There are over two hundred recorded incidence of limited temporal travel in Covenant and Forerunner databases. Most involving ships arriving a few hours before they left. However other anomalies have been theorized about extensively…"

Nyrrevus blinked at the creature watching him patiently for signs of understanding. "You're saying we may have traveled through time."

The floating entity gave an indecipherable shrug. Or what counted as a shrug for a creature with no shoulders and which floated using a bag of explosive gases. "Yes, and no. As I have stated I have no way of confirming it but I believe this vessel and it's crew have travelled not only backwards in time, as suggested by the apparent spin of the local galactic arm, but possibly from one reality to another as only a handful of the stars detected match those in our database…"

Were this any other creature speaking to him Nyrrevus would have done one of three things. First if it had been one of his Jiralhanae telling him this he would have laughed at him. Second if this had been any other member of the Covenant he would have called them a liar. And finally if a human had dared to suggest such a thing he would have killed him for daring to mock him. That it was a Huragok, a species which didn't understand the concept of falsehood or humour particularly well, he instead pushed to his feet and approached the window. His crew, having overheard his conversation with the Huragok had stilled and were now watching him fearfully.

"If we are not in our own reality…Then where are we?" He murmured quietly. "Where have the Gods taken us?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** There you go. Hope you enjoyed it. Please Review and comment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Here we go, part 2 of 3. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

 **February 7th, 2186**

 **En Route to Sol System**

 **Normandy SR2**

Jennifer Shepard sighed gustily as she fussed over the shoulder boards of her Alliance Navy dress uniform. It was a difficult proposition getting them just right, but an important one. Especially today of all days…

Turning yourself in to the authorities wasn't something you did on a whim, and it was not something you did whilst looking like you'd just crawled out of the gutter with a bottle of whiskey. No as much as she hated it, this was about theatre. Presenting an image which would help her case going forward. Thus, the dress blues and trying her best to look sharp.

Although, after what the press were already referring to as "The Alpha Relay Incident" she was less than sure snappy dress would make a significant difference to her case. Blowing up a star system and getting many thousands killed in the process tended to bias people against you.

But she had to try her best anyways, she needed to be free, not just for her own sake but to ensure she was able to help fight the Reapers when they came.

She'd done what she could, stopped the invasion's vanguard two or so years before, stopped the Collectors from Harvesting humanity more recently…set up a close personal friend as the galaxies top information broker, and blown up that relay to slow the Reapers arrival.

Since then she'd gotten her crew, and "The Team" as she thought of them, to disperse and do what they could to prepare. She hoped at least some of them would be ready when the time came. She had no way of knowing now.

And she'd prepared to set course for Earth, contacting her old mentor David Anderson to pave the way for her. He'd done so, but also met her part way in between at Omega, assigning her an official guard. Nevertheless he'd agreed to allow her to turn herself in on her own terms.

He'd been reluctant, not surprising given what she intended, but had been convinced eventually. The main benefit of what she had planned was that it kept her from being swept under the rug, making her too high profile to ignore, and getting her instantly into the public eye where she could start spreading the word.

She finished straightening herself out just as a tone sounded and a call came in over the intercom via the bridge. "Dropping out of FTL," Joker's voice reported. "ETA to Earth…ten minutes. Stealth systems engaged."

Time to hurry then. She paced out of her quarters to find James Vega, her assigned guard waiting in full alliance armour by the elevator. She nodded to him and they silently rode the elevator down to the CIC deck. Where Joker her pilot, and Kelly Chambers joined them before they once more began to descend. Joker was in his uniform of course, while Kelly had adopted her nicest civilian dress.

"You two okay?" She asked, watching the two tense crew members across from her.

Joker clearly was the most tense of the two. "Ah you know, I'm fine, totally fine. After all I get taken into custody and tried for treason every day!"

She rolled her eyes goodnaturedly. "I'll likely be the one taking the fall if things go sideways Joker. Who's flying the ship?" She asked the pilot.

"EDI…" He admitted grudgingly. Jennifer understood, Joker preferred being in the cockpit himself.

Kelly finally spoke, answer her prior question. "I'm okay too Shepard, j-just a little nervous…" The red head admitted stammering a little.

Jenn smiled reassuringly at the younger woman. "Everything will be alright. As a civilian you didn't do anything they can prosecute you with. Thank you for your service, you were an excellent yeoman."

They stepped out into the hangar as the elevator arrived at that deck. The rest of the crew was already gathered there. Gabriella Daniels, Kenneth Donnely, Rupert Gardner, Karen Chakwas…and all the other former Alliance officers.

"Beginning descent," EDI remarked over the intercom as the ship began to shake slightly. "Approaching Alliance Headquarters, Vancouver"

Shepard imagined they'd soon have pursuers. One didn't take a ship through reentry near a major military Headquarters without someone noticing, stealth system or no.

She continued to pace forward, as the vibration of the deck smoothed, "Coming in for landing, disengaging stealth system…" The AI reported as the ramps slowly began to open, letting in daylight.

Jenn smiled ruefully as she saw the crowds of gawkers who had paused going about their business as the frigate parked itself on the front lawn of the Alliance Headquarters in downtown Vancouver.

In order to make the entrance she desired, she had to cause as much fuss as possible while doing it, short of anything that might get her summarily shot down or just plain shot for her audacity.

She led the way down the ramp as it lowered onto the grass, stepping ahead of the others, James sticking by her shoulder as guards poured from the building. Thankfully it appeared Anderson was leading them, as she spotted her old friend hurrying towards her at the head of the closest squad.

The marines and army soldiers formed a loose perimeter around the ship, weapons raised despite the apparently non-hostile landing party. She smiled blandly at Anderson as he and the squad with him came to stop in front of her. "Admiral Anderson Sir!" She barked snapping a salute. She could already see the civies nearby recording everything.

"Shepard." Anderson greeted returning the salute.

"Admiral, I Jennifer Anne Shepard surrender myself and my vessel into Alliance custody effective immediately. My crew gathered here, also surrender themselves into your custody."

She then very deliberately raised her hands to the back of her head and knelt on the ground. This was it, she was under arrest.

* * *

 **Date Unknown**

 **Middle of Nowhere**

 **UNSC _Stand and Deliver_**

The officers of the UNSC task force sat around the briefing room table on the _Stand and Deliver's_ command deck blinking skeptically at the pair of AI avatars projecting on the table in front of them. It was understandable given what they'd all just been told.

"Excuse me, let me see if I've got this straight," said Captain Ramsey of the _Atlanta_ , leaning forward in his chair. "You're trying to tell me that we've somehow entered another dimension?"

The question was honestly more like a demand, but the other's gathered in the _Stand and Deliver's_ conference room decided to let his tone slide given the circumstances. The remnant of the small flotilla had dropped out of slip space four nearly hours before, and almost immediately the navigations and astrogation division on all of the ships had begun sounding alarms.

Naturally the AI's had investigated, with the assistance of the ship's limited science personnel and even one or two civilian experts who had been rescued in the course of their mission. The results, unknowingly similar to those found by a certain Huragok many lightyears away, had culminated in an emergency meeting being called on the lead ship.

Captain Ramsey and Lieutenant Commander Smythe from the Atlanta, Captain Micheal Irons of the Saratoga, Operative Captain Keiko Ichimura of the _Iram of the Pillars,_ as well as Captain Hale, his XO Commander Kaitlin Leclerc, and Major Sarah Ramirez who led his marine division, had all gathered to hear the AI's conclusion.

"Strictly speaking the term alternate reality appears to suit more accurately, however you are close enough to the matter." Joan agreed amiably despite the man's roughly voiced skepticism.

"In fairness to Joan, Captain Ramsey, her hypothesis matches the data. Though I would like my own people to look over it as well…" The ONI ship master murmured calmly, many of those in the room with her were surprised just how well Keiko Ichimura was taking it all, most of the others sported some expression of shock or fear at the news being presented to them. The operative had adopted a calm expression by contrast to this, while leaning back casually in her chair. Looking utterly unaffected by the possibility she was in an entirely different universe.

"Is there any way we can confirm this?" Leclerc asked dubiously, in her lilting accent. A blonde woman of French origin, Kaitlyn Leclerc did not at first glance look the part of hardened UNSC officer, instead more closely resembling a runway model.

The AI nodded firmly. "Yes of course, finding Earth or another colony would easily confirm or disprove the theory. If they are as we left them, then there is likely some other explanation, if they are not?"

"I thought you said none of the stars are in the right place?" Demanded Captain Ramsey baldly.

"I said _most_ of the stars appear to be different," Corrected Joan pointedly, glaring at the very vocal shipmaster. "By all appearances a star matching Sol is in the correct location, albeit a few hundred years out of position…We'd need to get closer to see if it's really Sol."

"Can we risk jumping?" Captain Hale asked quietly. He'd remained virtually silent during the proceedings, only speaking up to occasionally voice a question clarifying matters. "If the slipspace drive caused all this…"

"Whether or not it's safe is beside the point to my way of thinking." Ramirez cut in for the first time all evening. "We only have so much in the way of resources and supplies. We can't stay here forever."

The others nodded soberly at that. _Stand and Deliver_ carried the most supplies of any of them, being the largest ship, but even it only had enough consumables for half a year at full consumption, a bit longer if they rationed. That wasn't even accounting for the civilians they'd rescued…

"Okay fine, let's just say for the sake of argument that this is real, that we're really in another…whatever." growled the _Saratoga's_ Captain Irons. "Do we still follow the Cole Protocol? I mean if we're really not where we should be it shouldn't matter right?"

"Technically we already fulfilled the protocols tenants by jumping out blind from Reach, doing another random jump before trying earth would be somewhat superfluous. Then again, if it's not earth…" Speculated Joan.

"Why don't we jump to the edge of the Sol system then, or whatever it's called here and check it out?" Was one of the suggestions that came back, Smythe, Ramsey's XO.

"How long would such a jump be?" Captain Hale asked sitting up in his chair a bit straighter, directing his question to the AI.

She paused calculating. "Not long, twelve hours, give or take?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow at her, usually AI's preferred to be exact. Then again perhaps she'd recognized that it didn't really matter in this case. He considered the other Captains. "Are we agreed, we move closer and check it out?" Strictly speaking as senior officer in command of the flotilla he could have pulled rank and forced the issue, but having his officers full cooperation was important in this instance.

One by one those gathered nodded agreement. "We are agreed."

Nathan sighed in relief that they'd come to some sort of understanding. Irons then leaned forward, looking seriously to the others. "Alright, now that's settled, what are we supposed to tell the Civies? The captains manning those ships are already asking about the delay and reporting navigational malfunctions."

This was greeted by stark silence. After all, how was one supposed to tell a dozen or so ships full of confused and frightened refugees they weren't even in the correct universe anymore?

* * *

 **Sept, 27th, 2186**

 **Apartment of Samantha Traynor**

 **Vancouver, Earth**

Sam groaned piteously as she struggled to roll herself out of bed, thumping onto the floor clumsily. Sam, it had to be said, felt like utter crap.

Sam was hardly what one would consider conservative, but even for her waking up naked after a bender wasn't the usual way to go, and so she was struggling to remember what had happened the night before.

Unfortunately she remembered soon enough and had to fight the urge to go in search of whatever swill she'd been drinking that made her feel like this.

Her girlfriend, Meg, had dumped her. Hard. Well…maybe she hadn't, if what she remembered, Sam had in fact dumped her. After finding the _supposedly_ lesbian woman in bed with a couple of guys.

It wasn't so much that Meg wasn't a lesbian that bothered her. She herself had experimented with bi-sexuality now and then. It was the fact she'd lied about it and been cheating on her behind her back. _That_ was unforgivable.

So she'd come home last night, ate a tub of chunky monkey, gotten drunk as a skunk, and if what she was remembering was accurate she had then apparently danced around her apartment naked, screaming. Her neighbours would not be pleased she was sure…Mother would be _so_ proud.

She peered blearily at the clock. Thankfully she had today off. A whole day to get herself feeling human again before facing work on Monday. Still, it'd be better if she got started on that whole rehabilitation thing sooner rather than later…

After about a minute of pathetic flailing about she managed to regain her feet and get herself stumbling towards the shower. Where, after soaking in the water for half an hour, she was finally feeling human enough to focus on getting clean.

That took longer than she would have liked, but she was on the right track now. She got out of the bathroom after just about the longest shower of her life and after drying off strode naked back to her bedroom.

Her sense of basic civility, even though she was alone, insisted she get at least partially dressed and she found herself in her usual pyjamas, a t-shirt and a pair of boy shorts and plunked herself down for some cereal at the small island in her kitchen.

Turning on the news as she started munching on the whole grains she watched as the news caster straightened herself out before speaking. "Returning again to the Shepard case, the former Alliance Commander once again endured a long bout of questioning before the courts yesterday."

Sam listened with interest, she had been following the case fairly closely. She'd been amongst those who had held out hope that Shepard really had returned, and had been worried about the rumours surrounding the Alpha Relay.

Maybe she was naive, but she found herself believing the Commander. Not just based on what she'd seen on the news. She'd heard more of the real deal from Joker on the Normandy. From what she could tell, Shepard had done her best in an awful situation and had to make a hard choice based on imperfect information.

That didn't mean she hoped the Commander was also right about the whole Reaper thing, that was just too terrifying a concept to really contemplate…

The news report finished replaying various bits of the proceedings the day before and she turned off the tv again before tidying away her dishes.

She checked the clock again. Perhaps it was time for a short run then? That had helped her clear her head before and it really was part of her weekend routine. She just needed to get changed, pop a couple of pain meds and hope she didn't bump into any of the neighbours…

* * *

 **Sol System**

 **Inner Perimeter**

The arrival of the three UNSC ships and their small horde of very confused civilian ships did not, despite any hopes to that effect, go unnoticed by those who inhabited the system which they now perched upon the edge of. Decades ago the System Alliance had begun placing stealth satellites in great numbers about the perimeter of the home system as a security measure against those who might intend Earth harm.

In times past these automated eyes and ears had prevented even the Salarian STG's spy ships from entering the system undetected. Though that time had largely passed, the Salarian's being a clever bunch, they nevertheless maintained their usefulness in preventing less able factions from entering unnoticed.

On this particular day, one of the satellites on the western edge of the system detected a gravitational anomaly, something which it had actually been designed to detect considering the prevalence of mass effect technology, and dutifully rotated itself and it's various more directional scopes and sensor arrays to focus on the source.

Therefore the little satellite had a front row seat when the three UNSC vessels and their small flotilla of refugees arrived in a bursting nimbus of light and radiation as real-space tore itself open depositing the two warships on the Alliance's doorstep.

However while the satellite's remarkably robust VI was not exactly equipped to process the concept of shock or surprise, it did note the various vessel's unidentified classifications as well as their unscheduled arrival on an unexpected vector and dutifully beamed an alert via FTL comm buoy, to the nearest monitoring station.

* * *

 **UNSC _Stand and Deliver_**

 **Sol System**

 **Unknown Space**

Captain Nathan Hale sucked at his teeth thoughtfully, while he looked over the sensor feeds. _Well that tore it,_ at least as far as he was concerned. They were definitely not where they were supposed to be. Understatement of the millennia.

Earth was there alright, _hell_ the whole solar system was. The continents were even right, it was just everything else that was an unrecognizable mess.

Gone were the swarming UNSC fleets, orbital defence platforms and shipyards. At least any that they could actually recognize. The ships they detected in orbit of humanities home world were unlike anything in the UNSCs arsenal and none of the orbiting stations were recognizable as MAC platforms.

He'd had them listening to comm traffic, what little of it wasn't encoded in some way or another. Even that was different. Strange musics, and scenes played on the screens.

Earth for the UNSC had been home to many metropolises each varied and different, but many of the cities that were now visible to them were barely recognizable for where they were. He hadn't even recognized London until the camera had panned over Big Ben.

These cities, most of them at least, appeared shining paradises of sleek silvers and austere whites.

This wasn't their home, not really. This world belonged to humanity, that much was clear from the pictures and videos which were coming back to them. But it was not _their_ humanity.

This maudlin train of thought was interrupted by Auntie Dot materializing on the pedestal next to him. "More of those gravitational anomalies Captain, near Pluto this time, bigger too."

They'd been detecting strange readings for some time now, ever since they had arrived really. "Anything out that way?" He asked.

Dot's avatar shrugged. "That strange energy shadow out near where Charon should be. Some sort of space station, and a few of those ships we've been watching run about. Nothing truly unusual for a system this active."

He shook his head. "I don't like it, it's so familiar, and yet at the same time…"

The door to the bridge opened and he turned to look. A soldier, in marine fatigues limped inside leaning on a cane. A woman with blonde hair which she had cropped short, and covered in a surprising number of cuts, bruises and scars. Not someone he normally would have recognized on first glance, but it was her build and eyes that gave away just who she really was.

"Ah, Spartan, I didn't realize you were up and about, welcome to the bridge." He said stoically, ignoring the way his greeting drew the eyes of most of the bridge crew. It wasn't every day you got the chance to see a Spartan.

The soldier straightened a bit, saluting stiffly. "Spartan B-312 reporting sir. I was hoping there was something you needed me for?"

Captain Hale knew who she was, though the details of the Spartans and their operations might have been classified that didn't stop the legends from spreading despite ONI's efforts. Spartan B-312, was nearly as much of a legend as the Master Chief, especially during her time on Reach, though she hadn't seemed to operate under the same lucky stars as him. She'd been involved in dozens of battles across just as many worlds. And while tales of her heroism were plenty, none of those worlds she had fought on still existed, nor did any of the rest of her unit.

That she still lived was a boon though, the crew's response to their predicament could have been worse, but that wasn't saying much. Having a Spartan accompanying them into the unknown gave them some measure of hope.

Auntie Dot rested her hands on her hips. "Spartan, you have not been discharged from medical, what are you doing up and about?"

The woman's eyes narrowed briefly, a scowl flitting over her face before she blanked it again. "I'm well enough sir, getting a bit stir crazy though…"

The AI threw up her hands, "You've only been awake two hours, how can you be stir crazy already?" Dot exclaimed skeptically. The captain decided to nip this in the bud before it escalated.

"Enough, Spartan, I'll trust you to know your limits, but don't push it too hard just yet okay? Have you been briefed on our situation?" He asked pointedly cutting off the AI.

The woman nodded, "The belief is that we some how stumbled into another universe sir. I admit I thought they were joking at first when they told me."

A morose shake of the head, "I wish they were Spartan…" He murmured sympathetically, and he watched her look away in thought.

An alarm blared a moment later, drawing his attention back to Auntie Dot. "Alert Gravitational anomaly incoming, it's heading right for us!" She sounded alarmed, as the bridge crew jumped back to their tasks.

There were a series of flashes off there bow and more than two dozen ships appeared in space before them. All of them sharing a similar design, but in several varied configurations and scales. A central spar running the length of the ship, with two angled wing like protrusions on either side. All of them stark white with blue markings.

"All hands battle stations!" He barked, and his crew mates started racing about their work, an alarm sounding over the intercom. "Dot, Joan, I want the MAC guns charged and ready to fire. Load all forward missile pods…" The two AI's indicated their understanding, before winking out.

One of his officers turned from his display "Captain, we're reading energy build up in the…Ships sir." His hesitation was likely born from being uncertain how to refer to ships of a separate, but still human species. "Looks like spinal mounted guns and some sort of shielding sir, we're reading oscillating waveforms on their hulls."

Nathaniel grimaced, it was bad enough that they were caught flatfooted and out numbered by these strangers. That they apparently possessed some kind of shields as well was not good. He didn't have long to reflect on that.

"Sir, they're launching fighters and…Sir, were receiving a hail!"

He hesitated for but a moment, then nodded. "Play it."

There was a moment's pause and then a voice could be heard over the bridge speakers. "Unidentified craft, this is the Systems Alliance Dreadnought _Tia Shan_ —"

* * *

 **Alliance Orbital Defence Platform**

 **3-A "Camelot"**

 **Earth**

Admiral Steven Hackett, age fifty two, awoke with a start at the harsh buzzing of his alarm. He rolled over and sat up with his legs over the edge of the bed, his arm snaking out blindly and slapping down on the clock, silencing it.

A groan sounded behind him and he twisted to see Hannah shifting over, to lay on her front, her eyes tight shut. He couldn't help but smile at that, his girlfriend never had liked being awakened. He reached out and rubbed her naked back gently, before pulling the sheets slightly higher up over her, earning a sound of contentment from her.

They were both on shore leave, her from the SSV Killimanjaro, him from his duties aboard the Orizaba which was just out of it latest refits. It was one of the few times when they could be together like this, duty so often keeping them apart. In truth he interacted with Jennifer more than Hannah these days. Though Hannah held a distinctly different place in his life than the junior Shepard girl.

She smiled slightly as he tucked her back in, and he pushed to his feet and made his way to the bathroom.

It was a few minutes later he exited showered and dressed, to find her laying on her side watching him, one hand clutching the sheets higher over her chest to preserve her modesty. Not that such a thing was truly necessary between the two of them. "You have a meeting with David?" She asked, before pausing to yawn slightly.

He nodded, David Anderson, their close friend and colleague, had been hounding him for a meet in regards to the junior Shepard for days now. He'd finally managed to pin his old friend down to a date and time in an hour or so.

He, Hannah and David had known each other in one capacity or another since the first contact war. They were good friends.

He paused before he could respond, a telltale crackle heralding an incoming message over the intercom. "Admiral Hackett, this is station master Smith, we have a situation arising, it demands your immediate attention."

He sighed "Very well station master, transfer the call to my personal uplink," He exited the bedroom heading to the study, where he brought up his desktop before answering the incoming message.

The station master's face appeared on the screen, he could tell from the movement and people in the background the man was standing in the station's CIC. "Admiral, as of 0800 hours this morning one of our stealth inner perimeter satellites detected the arrival of a flotilla of unidentified vessels on the system's perimeter. It promptly reported in to monitoring station Charlie, who spread the alert to the fleets." A readout appeared next to the man's face, a holographic image of the solar system a swarm of red dots on the western edge. "Admiral Lindholm is scrambling a task force from the first fleet to intercept, but it was felt you should take a look at these readings yourself sir…"

Hackett brought up the information packet the station master had just sent him. He felt his jaw pop open slightly and his eyes widen in shock. The vessels were unlike anything he'd seen before.

They were both bulky and angular, hunks of dark metal and unknown alloy, the smaller two military vessels around cruiser weight, the larger? The larger vessel was mammoth, over two and a half kilometres long, larger than any vessel in the arsenal of any known navy. All surrounded by a myriad of strange vessels of lesser tonnages that Hackett would have bet were civilian craft.

The details of the scan however only caused his shock to deepen, the vessels had arrived using an unknown method of FTL transit, appearing in a storm of background radiation and exotic particles, the visuals the satellite had relayed were unreal. What was more the satellite's sensors, had not been able to detect any element zero masses or dark energy emissions from any of the vessels themselves.

"Station master, I assume these readings are accurate?" He questioned, already suspecting the answer.

The man nodded stiffly. "Yes sir, over a dozen unidentified tangos, three almost certainly military craft, two cruiser weight, the other ringing in as a super-dreadnought, neither exhibiting any element zero tell tales, and using an unknown method of faster than light travel."

Steven's mind was racing, every space faring species, every interstellar force in the known galaxy utilized element zero and the mass effect to achieve space flight. It was critical to the generation of artificial gravity fields and achieving faster than light velocities. Not to mention it's utilities in the field of weapons and shields.

That these vessels apparently existed in defiance of this well known fact was shocking all by itself. However it was also worrisome. Any vessels utilizing alternate methods to achieve their ends would by nature be somewhat unpredictable in combat. Their capabilities a complete unknown.

"Station master connect me through to the _Tai Shan_ I need to speak with Admiral Lindholm immediately." He instructed tersely. The station master snapped a sharp salute before transferring his call.

It took a moment but soon enough a new image resolved on his screen and he leaned forward his fists balled on the desk. "Ines, I just heard about our newest arrivals." He said by way of greeting.

Ines Lindholm, a woman about a decade his junior. She'd missed out on the first contact war, but had served during the blitz and the various other conflicts with the Batarians. Her performance against various pirate and mercenary bands had been exemplary. However she'd never taken part in a true massed fleet battle outside of an exercise or war game. Still she'd risen throughout he ranks rapidly and had earned her hard won position as head of the First Fleet stationed near the Charon relay.

She was striking enough he supposed, he knew that in her youth she'd been one hell of a head turner. Still was, considering how well medical science held back aging these days, but that was all irrelevant at the moment.

She leaned forward in her command chair, looking down into the small display. "Hello Steven, hoping to join the party?" She asked dryly. "You'll have to hurry we'll be jumping in on them momentarily."

"It'll take some time to rally what ships I can, do you want me to see what I can scrounge up?" He asked, however she shook her head.

"No, I'm taking a heavy task group, if we can't handle three ships, even if one's a super-dreadnought we've got bigger problems. And I'll be shocked if those smaller vessels can even shoot…"

He nodded understanding. A heavy task group, as defined by Alliance military standards, was a trio of dreadnoughts, a carrier, eight cruisers, and fourteen frigates. At least in the first fleet that was. Fifth fleet had recently been outfitted with a new ship class, destroyers, which sat somewhere between a frigate and cruiser in weight and firepower, so the numbers had to be shifted somewhat for the new formations.

"Very well, god speed, but I'll be rallying the fleet just in case, do you know if anyone's reported this to command?" He asked suddenly as the thought occurred to him.

She shrugged, distracted by something happening on her bridge. "I have no idea Steven, I'll leave that to you to handle though, I've got to go, over and out." The image winked out and the readout on Hackett's screen indicated the fleet had just jumped to FTL.

He turned at the sound of padding feet and saw Hannah wander into the room behind him, she'd dressed in a hurry, likely drawn by his urgent tones. "Everything alright Steven?" She asked worriedly.

He sighed hanging his head for a moment, "We'll see in a few minutes, I better rain check with David."

He set a call to his friend and soon enough David Anderson appeared on screen. "Judging by your expression you've just gotten the same news I have, rain check?" asked the dark skinned admiral.

"That depends, what have you heard?" was his prompt reply.

"Three more of the Batarian relays have gone dark, nothing is being heard from beyond them…" David began.

Hackett cursed. "Shit, no, I hadn't heard that, comm buoy malfunction?" He asked.

"No, at least we don't think so. Why, what has you riled if that's not why you're calling?" Anderson asked, surprised.

"A fleet of unidentified vessels on the edge of the system. Two cruiser weight, another reading as a super-dreadnought. And a small fleet of what we think are civilian craft. " He explained shortly. "Ines just took a fleet to intercept."

He heard and felt Hannah stiffen beside him, and David scowled. "Damn it, you don't think—Do you think this is what Jenn warned us about? A trick perhaps?"

Hackett paused, considering that, then shook his head. "No, I saw the ship profiles, neither match that of sovereign, and none of them are using eezo. Though this Batarian situation has me concerned, any word from the Hegemony?"

Anderson snorted, "Hell no, you know them, they're denying anything's wrong. Blaming it on solar radiation disrupting calls." He muttered waving dismissively.

"We need to keep eyes on that, but for the moment, those two unknowns are a more pressing matter." Hackett decided, then paused. "Speaking of which I'd better get my ships together just in case, damn most of my crews are still on leave, will be until tomorrow."

"Then I'll leave you to it, I'll keep you apprised if I hear anything about the Batarian situation." Anderson assured him.

The two of them signed off, and Hackett turned to Hannah. "You and David are worried, who are these ships with?" She asked, she'd missed much of the conversations he'd had with Lindholm or the station master.

"We don't know, and that's half the problem, that they're showing up just as something weird kicks off with the Batarians has me nervous though." He admitted sighing.

She reached out and turned his face to look up at her. "You think it might be what Jenn is worried about, you think it might be the Reapers?"

He sighed, "I don't know, I sure hope not, I'm hoping it's just more Hegemony bullshit. But…If it is the Reapers?" He didn't need to finish that thought.

He, Hannah and David had done what they could to talk around some of the others and had managed it with enough of them to get some things moving, but if it truly was the Reapers, they were not ready, not even close.

There was a trill and a small alert popped up on his screen. INCOMING CALL FROM ADMIRAL I LINDHOLM.

He tapped the icon and a new window popped up. The Admiral's face appeared, an odd expression in her eyes, "Hey Steven, Hannah, we need to talk I think…"

* * *

 **A few minutes earlier**

 **Sol Solar System**

 **SSV _Tai Shan_**

Ines Lindholm braced slightly as her ship dropped out of FTL, the ship shifting slightly as the vessel's inertial dampers and artificial gravity generators adjusted. A cluster of dark forms rapidly filling the view screen. She turned to her XO, "Status report, the fleet?"

The man checked his screen quickly, "All ships present and accounted for, in formation, all vessels' barriers and weapons reading charged and ready" He reported, before hurrying to another station, looking over the shoulder of the officer manning it. "Unidentified ships have spotted us, they are rotating, bringing their bows to face us! We're detecting energy build ups in their engines and along the spines."

"Shields?" She demanded.

"Uh…Negative not reading anything like that…" He admitted.

Well that was something she supposed, it was possible then that whoever these people were they lacked kinetic barriers, even if they made monster ships. She shook her head as she took in the vessels as they gradually turned towards her. They were at a dead stop, so turning was slow going. "Hail them." She instructed.

The three, probably military, ships were odd, all heavy bellied with large engine blocks. The smaller ones having two which sat at the back alongside their ships' long spar like hulls, a fin of some sort extending down between the engines. The larger was more evenly distributed, longer and heavy throughout with massive engines formed into the ships aft. Not at all thin and spar-like, like the smaller vessels, but it did have a large tower like structure at it's bow.

"Admiral, we're detecting missile tubes opening!"

She was about to respond to that but froze as her eyes caught something, "VI, isolate the super-dreadnought's flank and magnify!" She instructed sharply.

An image expanded on the screen, a frozen snapshot of the ship's starboard bow. There on the ships slanted armoured flanks, so reminiscent of a feature of their own ships, was an icon. A large stylized white hawk or eagle, clutching a globe. Below that was imprinted four letters. U N S C. Human script.

A comment form on her lips regarding this when the comm specialist spoke up. "Ready to broadcast Admiral, all frequencies on your say so."

She shook out of it at the officer's words. "Ah—yes, open the frequency." She instructed, and waited for the officer to give her a thumbs up. "Unidentified craft, this is the Systems Alliance Dreadnought _Tai Shan_ , Admiral Ines Lindholm commanding. Please identify yourself and state your intentions!"

There was a pause, the vague buzzing of static filling the CIC, "I repeat, Unidentified craft, this is the Systems Alliance Dreadnought _Tai Shan_ , Admiral Ines Lindholm commanding. Please identify yourself and state your intentions."

The pause stretched longer, and she waited on her officers to voice opinions. "Admiral should we—"

Suddenly a beep sounded and the comm officer gave a start. "We've got a message coming in on the primary channel, patching it through now."

The primary holo-projector in the centre of the CIC warmed and sprung to life. A man stepping forward into the projection. He was tall, younger than her though she couldn't tell by how much. He was wearing what for all appearances was some kind of officer's uniform. Grey and strangely cut by Alliance standards, the shirt appeared reminiscent of a light flak vest with padded shoulders. He was caucasian with dark hair and a soft brimmed cap on his head which bore that same eagle and globe emblazoned in black instead of white. His hands were clasped behind his back though she could see a sidearm strapped to his side.

"SSV _Tai Shan_ , Admiral Lindholm I presume?" He asked, his eyes watching her from the slight shadow cast by his cap. She nodded and he offered a deferential tip of the head. "Captain Nathaniel Hale of the UNSC _Stand and Deliver_ , I lead this flotilla." He said introducing himself.

She blinked slight at the strange name of his ship "Greetings Captain, may I ask just what you are doing with a formation of warships in sovereign Systems Alliance space?" She asked a touch stiffly, leaning back in her chair.

He nodded, and glanced away for a moment, an odd expression on his face for a moment before he shrugged and looked back to her. "That's—a bit of a long story Admiral, but the short version is that we were coming to see what was here. We ah—weren't certain what we would find."

She scowled slightly as she tried to parse that. "Captain, I'm not sure what else you could expect to find in Sol, that a human seems surprised to find anything in the cradle of our species is strange if I may be blunt."

He nodded, "Yes, I can imagine it is…" he paused and sighed, pulling his cap from his head for a moment and running his hand over his scalp. Considering something seriously, before nodding minutely to himself, "Look, Admiral…I am willing to consider standing down my ship's primary weapons as an act of good faith, clearly we are the intruders here, not you. I would however ask that you do the same in response, most of the vessels in this group are unarmed transports. I'd like to…propose a meeting either here on my ship or at another location of your choosing, I feel we need to talk. If not you and me, then myself and another chosen representative."

She considered that, "Very well Captain, stand down your weapons. I cannot condone leaving my command and joining you aboard your ship at this time…However, I will speak with my colleagues and get back to you about a representative. In the meantime, we will escort you and your ships to Earth. Be warned however if we detect weapons powering up or missile tubes opening while in proximity with Earth we will take it as a hostile action and open fire. Are we understood?"

He nodded readily. "I can shut down our missile tubes and our main cannons, our point defences and deck guns can't be entirely powered down, not without cutting atmosphere to them and attached sections…" he noted.

She looked to her deck officer who forwarded his readout on those weapons. The Deck guns were formidable looking but she was virtually certain they were kinetic in nature. If her shields were down they might do some serious damage, but without? It was unlikely they would be a serious threat to the planet if fired at it. Unlike a fully charged spinal gun or missiles which could be tipped with nuclear warheads. "Alright, we'll allow those secondary armaments to remained powered, but if I detect targeting from them, or if they fire we will retaliate."

He nodded, looking less tense. "Very well Admiral. I'll follow your lead…Er—you do know our FTL systems do not function as yours seem to?"

"Then we'll go sub-light, how long will it take you to arrive at these coordinates at full burn?" She asked forwarding him a set of numbers.

He consulted something outside the projection, "Thirty minutes?"

She nodded. "I will send you the details of where you will sit in our formation, do not deviate once in position and on course. I will contact you if we need anything further." She waited until he voiced acceptance and cut the line.

"Get me Admiral Hackett."

* * *

 **UNSC _Stand and Deliver_**

 **Approaching Earth**

 **Sol System**

"Are you certain this is a good idea Captain? I don't like the idea of us going into the lion's den." Captain Ramsey grumbled, his tone and the subtle emphasis he put on the word Captain, clearly conveying what he thought of the matter.

"Look, I don't like it either, but we need to get the lay of the land, and if we want to get home somehow, I'm sure we'll need help. Now I'm not sure these people are going to be what we're hoping for, we don't know enough about them, but I don't see an alternative." He looked to the other screens arrayed about him, each connecting him to a different member of the command staff. "Opinions."

"As much as I might wish it were otherwise, we most likely won't be able to return home on our own. We need resources, and these people are our only chance right now…" Operative Captain Ichimura noted dryly. "Good job by the way, not getting us into a shoot out I mean."

"Agreed, I'd rather not get in a fight with other humans, whether they're ours or no." Irons commented his eyes flicking to something off screen.

The others voiced their agreement more or less. The only one who still seemed to be having excess problems with the situation was the Captain of the _Atlanta_. But he kept his mouth shut for the moment.

Captain Ramsey, was a troubled officer. He was significantly older than himself but nevertheless seemed to have struggled to reach the rank of Captain of the Navy. A borderline insubordinate attitude was cited on multiple occasions throughout his record, it was only his reputation for being able to fight like blazes when in command that had him in that chair.

"Sarah, Kaitlin?" He asked looking to his XO and Marine commander.

Kaitlin shrugged. "I agree, it's really our only choice. We need to do something…" She noted in her slight french accent.

Sarah Ramirez nodded. "I'd like to know more about their capabilities. Right now we're largely in the dark. We have a couple people watching their broadcasts, but we have no frame of reference for any of it. I will say this though, they appear to have anti gravitational capability judging by those cars we see in the vids…"

"Possibly shields too, judging by those energy fields they project around themselves…" Kaitlin agreed morosely.

"Alright, what about this Admiral Lindholm, what was your read on her?" he asked. Unbeknownst to the good Admiral their communication had been broadcast to the other ships in the flotilla. Even if the others hadn't participated.

"Seems competent enough, and she brought more than enough ships along just in case. That says cautious, even knowing we can't read their capabilities." Ramsey admitted grudgingly.

"I'm curious did you probe their cyber warfare capabilities?" The Captain of the ONI prowler asked suddenly.

"No, I had the E-warfare suites on standby just in case, but I didn't want to do anything they might have taken as an attack." Hale admitted.

Typically E-warfare was handled by a ship's AIs as they could react and retaliate faster than organics in such matters. Having two such intelligences aboard was a boon, should it come to such things.

"Probably a good policy, we don't have any clue about their own capabilities in that area." Saratoga's Captain grumbled tiredly.

He paused considering, "Sarah, please see about preparing a marine detachment to escort me should I be required to leave the ship and meet with them. I get the feeling they're not going to want to risk one of their flag officers coming aboard."

She nodded, and made a note. "Should we—Uh, what about the Spartan sir?" She said glancing at the woman in question where she stood against the aft bulkhead of the bridge. The Spartan perked up, suddenly paying much closer attention.

"How combat effective are you in your current condition Spartan?" He asked seriously.

She paused considering, if this had been any other ground pounder he would have worried about bravado getting in the way, but Spartans had it well drilled into them to be more circumspect when communicating with officers. "I should be fine, if I have a suit helping me. That is assuming they lack any sort of Spartan analogue here…Otherwise, even like this I should at least be able to give your marines an edge."

He nodded, "Get back to medical and get them to patch you up as much as they can before we arrive, then get yourself suited up. Your own gear was pretty banged up but we have a backup suit and some extra pieces available in the armoury. Meet back here as soon as you can."

She nodded, and promptly exited the bridge. Spartan's appreciated having a mission, now she had hers she'd see it through to completion.

"Sarah, make sure our men are dressed to impress." He instructed. "Otherwise, the rest of you, dismissed."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hope you enjoyed that, as ever, please review and comment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Here you go, part 3 of 3.

* * *

 **Alliance Headquarters**

 **"Guest" Quarters**

 **Vancouver, Earth**

"Hang on a sec, I'll be right there!" Yelled Jennifer Shepard, as she pulled her shirt over her head. She'd just finished getting showered after her morning workout, such as it was being cooped up in this apartment like this.

She finished tucking in her shirt before trotting to the door and opening it. To her surprise it wasn't James, the marine lieutenant who had been guarding her all this time. It was Admiral Anderson.

"Anderson." She greeted happily. "Good to see you, how have you been?"

He smiled thinly as he stepped inside. "You know how it is Shepard, I'm managing. I'm sorry to bother you so early but a situation has come up, something you might be able to help with."

"Oh?" She asked, padding back to the small apartment's bed and pulling on some socks. "What help can I be, I'm in custody remember? Unless it's another hearing…"

She'd turned herself in to Alliance custody close to seven months ago, following the events surrounding the destruction of the Alpha Relay. She'd done her best to ensure she wasn't swept under the rug, but that hadn't stopped the politicos from trying to throw the book at her for every possible infraction they could dream up. She'd been in and out of hearings and debriefings for the pretty much the entirety of those months. Something which was just as tiresome as it sounded

"No, something different. It's the Admiralty this time. Something's come up here in Sol, that might benefit from your…special touch." He said delicately.

She snorted indelicately "Depends what you mean by that, I assume you don't mean blowing stuff up."

He blinked, then chuckled, understanding her meaning. "No, not that. We're more interested in your diplomatic skills this time."

Jenn blinked in surprise at that. She was a soldier, or more accurately an N7 rated Combat Engineer, Paladin specialization. Though that was more of a mouthful. Blowing stuff up and holding the line, that was what she'd been trained for. Though her duties in recent years had required her to complete increasingly bizarre and outlandish feats. Nowhere in N7 training did they cover slaying a thresher maw, on foot, in order to help a young Krogan get accepted into a clan.

"Come on Shepard, you know what I'm talking about. You've made a career as a Spectre through working with aliens, some of them with vastly different personalities." David pointed out. "What we've got isn't quite that level, but its an odd situation regardless."

She nodded, accepting that. It wasn't something she really thought about, but she had worked with aliens before, in difficult circumstances. "Alright, what's the op?"

"Not an op, like I said this is more about being diplomatic. Though I admit we picked you because you could do that _and_ tear off somebody's arm if it came to that." He waved that off and paced across her small living space. "As of 0800 this morning a fleet of unidentified craft arrived on the edge of the Sol system. I'll spare you the details until the briefing, but they apparently belong to a group of humans who are not affiliated with the Systems Alliance. They have requested the chance to talk and were allowing it. In about an hour, we will be meeting with them aboard the orbital defence station Camelot. I want you along to help things go smoothly, the last thing we need right now is a major incident on our doorstep."

She nodded her understanding. "Alright, I think I can handle that, I'll just uh—I'll just get dressed then shall I?"

"There is one other thing, part of the reason we're trying to get you out of this apartment and among the people…There've been concerns about the Batarians, three of their systems have gone dark. We don't know why." he admitted on his way to the door.

Jenn stiffened. "The Reapers?"

"We don't know, not for sure." He said shaking his head wearily.

"What else could it be?" She demanded, dark eyes flashing.

He grimaced, "We don't know. Most recent update has the Batarians saying it's solar radiation interfering with comm buoys…"

She snorted, "Right, and we believe that? I'll go get changed, I'll see you in a few minutes." She said, all but shutting the door in his face.

She wasn't angry with him, not really, she was frustrated with the idiots who had kept her cooped up in here when she should be out there, preparing. Not that preparing was likely to do much good. Not against the Reapers.

* * *

 **Sept, 27th, 2186**

 **Apartment of Samantha Traynor**

 **Vancouver, Earth**

Elsewhere in Vancouver, Samantha Traynor was just towelling off after returning to her apartment following her morning run. She felt a bit better, though not much. She suspected that was as much an emotional issue as it was a physical one.

Her headache was most certainly not helped by the sudden ringing trill of her phone line, which she grudgingly picked up when the Caller ID told her it was her superior officer calling.

"Hey Jack, what do you need on a Sunday?" She asked tiredly.

"Oh great, you sound like crap." Her superior, one Supervisory Comm. Specialist Jack Morrow, griped in exasperation. "Look, I'm sorry to do this to you, but Command's in a tizzy about something and have ordered everyone in to accelerate work on the Normandy. No excuses apparently." He muttered.

She groaned, but nodded. It wasn't like she had a choice. "Okay, let me grab my things I'll meet you there. Any idea what's got them riled?"

"None, tell you if I hear more when we get to work. See you soon Sam."

"See you soon," Samantha agreed, before hanging up. She then paused just long enough to scream rather theatrically into her palms before straightening and running to grab her go bag. It sounded like proper breaks would be few and far between.

If she was lucky Joker would be too busy arguing with the aeronautic techs to badger her about anything that caught his fancy. He was a nice enough fellow but he hadn't made concentrating on her work easy.

Changing into her uniform she exited the apartment a couple minutes later and began her second run of the day. This time over to the nearest tram station.

* * *

 **UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle**

 **en route to Orbital Defence Station "Camelot"**

Shepard watched her mentor fidget idly as they shook a bit with the movement of the drop shuttle as it rose through the atmosphere towards the station hanging in orbit overhead. "So what is it that has you nervous Anderson?" She asked. "These new arrivals or the Batarians?"

He smirked slightly as he straightened his jacket somewhat. "Can't it be both? As worrisome as the situation with the Hegemony is, you haven't seen these ships."

"So why don't you show me?" She asked pointedly.

The Admiral nodded, conceding the point before fiddling with the holoscreen on the shuttle's wall. The first image that came up was a LADAR readout which indicated a swarm of unidentified ships marked in neutral grey, being escorted by a large task force of blue Alliance forces. "As you can see there's quite a few of them." Anderson noted dryly. "Most appear to be civilian liners and freighters, but these three…." He said, indicating three larger signatures.

"These three are warships, the first two are about the size of a heavy cruiser." This was punctuated by images he lifted from the report Ines Lindholm had forwarded. She took a moment to examine the ships in detail before nodding her comprehension.

The Admiral pulled up another image, this a live video from the cameras mounted on the station they were headed to, showing a mammoth vessel which dwarfed all of the nearby Alliance craft as it slowly pulled away from the decelerating flotilla and moved closer to the station before turning to present it's broad side to the camera and the stations guns.

This had likely not been required by the Alliance she knew, but she suspected this final action was as much a method of appearing vulnerable and compliant, by presenting the largest target possible to the station, as it was to shield the fleet which was forming up behind it's bulk.

"This one here is rated as a Super-Dreadnought, it's just over 2.5 kilometres long." She whistled in appreciation. The ship now inhabiting the space near their destination was longer than a Reaper was tall. Which was saying something. Sovereign was the largest dreadnought recorded up to that point. The Destiny Ascension had greater mass overall, but wasn't as long.

"You'll be interested to know this however." Her mentor said cutting across her musings. "Our sensors detect no Element Zero masses, and these ships appear to lack kinetic barriers."

"We don't know if they have artificial gravity but it seems likely considering the ship's design and the fact that in our communication, the Captain seemed rooted to the floor."

Jen considered that. She wasn't certain if that meant these people were more or less advanced than the Alliance. Achieving the things they did without the mass effect meant they'd developed work arounds of some kind after all…

"Just who are you people?" Shepard murmured watching the titanic ship.

She heard Anderson chuckle. "That's what we're here to find out, isn't it?"

* * *

 **Approaching Alliance Station**

 **"Camelot"**

 **Earth**

Not so far away, aboard the very ship Shepard was observing from afar. Captain Nathaniel Hale stepped up into the transport bay of the ODST special operations Pelican which had been drawn up into a nearby hangar for their use today.

The ODST variant of the ubiquitous UNSC dropship was more heavily armoured, carrying one to two extra inches of plate at various key locations around the hull. And possessed a twin linked auto-cannon chin mount instead of the regular single. This particular bird had been outfitted for intimidation, with a pair of Anvil missile pods affixed next to the engines on the wings.

The soldiers who were even now hopping up into the dropship's bay with him were similarly outfitted. Most were Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, in their black bodysuits and heavy armour, a few more were Marines in full battle dress. Most intimidating of course was the Spartan. Noble Six.

She stood their at the end of the dropships troop compartment beside the door, adjusting the fit of some of the additional armoured plates she'd affixed to her new suit of Mjolnir armour. Finally satisfying herself that the modified breacher collar she'd attached was on right she flipped her JFO helmet in her hands and dropped it into place over her head before sealing it up.

Six tilt her head deferentially at the Captain before yanking a pistol off the rack and sticking it to the magnetized holster on her hip.

Turning his attention away from the Spartan's preparations he watched the doors to the Pelican close as he felt it kick off the landing pad.

He didn't like leaving his ship like this, not as the senior captain in the outnumbered little fleet, and not when so much was uncertain. It wasn't like he had much choice however. Their situation was clearly dire, and if they were to have any hope of finding their way home it would almost certainly have to be with help.

He'd left Keiko Ichimura in charge of the task force overall, with Kaitlyn in command of the _Stand and Deliver_ in specific. It likely rankled with Captain Ramsey who was by far the more senior, but he simply didn't trust the man enough for this.

He watched the ODSTs setting up the rear door mount turret, just in case this Alliance was not so…tolerant, as they appeared.

Alliance. He wondered at that. Did it mean they were not truly united under one banner? Instead being a coalition of like minded factions instead? There was so much they didn't know about these humans, and he had no idea what they were truly all about.

He had the AIs digging through the data which was flying around the system unsecured, but there as a lot of data they were taking in, and it would be a while before he got a firm and collated report he could read over and digest.

So for the moment he'd have to go in blind. The station was an odd affair, compared to those he was used to back home. A large two kilometre disk situated between twelve docking arms, the upper six stacked above the lower six. It appeared, as near as he could tell to lack any large station spanning weaponry of the sort an Orbital Defence Platform, back home would have sported. Then again he didn't know just how powerful any of the smaller turrets and defences dotting the station's hull were.

He spotted dozens of frigate and destroyer weight ships docked along the arms and swarms of shuttles and what he was certain were fighters darting about the stellar habitat.

The pilot turned to him as they drew nearer and nearer their destination. "We're nearing the dock sir, you may want to get ready." The flight officer suggested before turning back to her task.

He wondered at the size of those vessels he'd seen thus far as he heeded that advice and wandered back into the rear compartment. The vessel which had originally confronted them, the _Tai Shan_ , was called a Dreadnought by the Admiral he'd spoken with. Did that mean that vessels didn't really get much larger than that around here? If so, what did that mean for his little fleet? Were they not capable of building larger, or were those vessels the largest required considering their technological abilities?

There was a sound as they passed into the hangar they'd been assigned. The atmosphere now surrounding the ship carrying noise into their hull as they docked, he could hear the muffled sound of a voice announcing their arrival over an intercom.

The Pelican landed with a thump and the pilot once again twisted in her seat to yell back to him. "We're down sir, they've got a welcoming committee waiting for you…" She announced tensely.

"Soldiers?" He asked, and she nodded, her worried face mostly concealed by her helmet aside from her eyes. He nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. To be expected I suppose," He muttered, and turned to eye his escorts. "Alright, they've got boys waiting for us, but lets not get into a battle if we can avoid it. Open the hatch. Let's get this thing started…"

* * *

 **Alliance Orbital Defence Platform**

 **3-A "Camelot"**

 **Earth**

Hackett nodded stoically to the pair who entered the conference room as he regarded the worried face of the station master on his display. Hannah smiled and hurried forward to greet her daughter as Jen walked to meet her.

"They're not causing any trouble though?" He asked ignoring the murmured hellos across the table from him.

"No sir, not yet. But…well there's a heavy escort on the Captain sir, and well—" The station master replied uncertainly.

He raised a hand to stop him. "We'll see soon enough when they get here, in the mean time station more guards around the station, nothing too overt, we don't want to startle our guests."

"Yes sir…" The station master agreed uneasily. "They should be arriving soon—"

There was a beep from the doors beyond the security check point and they parted revealing the other party. "I believe they are already here." He noted dryly before nodding goodbye and cutting the line, stepping towards the group as they were confronted by the checkpoint guards.

He heard and felt, more than saw, the other Alliance representatives draw up behind him as he stopped near the tense guards. He couldn't blame them, considering what he saw of those waiting.

The Captain, was exactly as he'd appeared in the communique with Admiral Lindholm. A young thirty something fair skinned man in a grey and black uniform with that eagle and globe icon on it. Despite the large sidearm clipped to his waist it was the others who were more worrisome.

First of all were the soldiers in black, whose body language screamed Special Forces. Each armed with what for all appearances were advanced propellant based firearms. Many modern warriors would scoff at such weapons, but Hackett knew better. Just because it wasn't a mass accelerator weapon didn't mean it couldn't kill you. The rounds were almost certainly slower yes, but they would also be larger. You didn't need to hit with as much velocity if the round was bigger to start with.

The other soldiers were in off grey armour for the most part, and if he were to guess were more indicative of the rank and file for these…UNSC types. Marines perhaps?

It was the last one who concerned him most. She, as it could only be a female under all that armour judging by her profile, was huge. Not fat or even excessively bulky, but tall and clearly muscular, standing at least a full head and a half over the tallest of the others.

"Admiral sir, what's to be the policy on weapons and guards for this meeting?" The checkpoint guard asked nervously.

He considered that. "That depends on the Captain here…" He murmured. "Captain Hale was it? Do you feel the need to be accompanied into the meeting by all of these with you?" He asked. "For our part it will be these checkpoint guards, and Commander Shepard here who will be armed within the conference room." He explained ignoring the small start the Shepard in question gave at being addressed by her former rank. She had a pistol, as he'd asked David to supply her with one. But she also had her omni-tool, something he hoped these people wouldn't be expecting.

The Captain paused considering, then nodded. "Noble Six, you're with me. The rest of you make sure we're secure." The massed soldiers nodded and backed off as the mammoth soldier in silver and black armour strode forward to stand beside the man.

"As for weapons…I'm sure a knife and sidearm are sufficient, I don't think the grenades your soldier has won't be necessary considering?" Hackett suggested eying the woman who looked questioningly to her superior.

"Agreed, Spartan?" Hale agreed calmly and the soldier, nodded placing the rifle she'd been carrying as well as the bandoleer of grenades into the bin provided by the checkpoint guard, she very pointedly left the large pistol on her belt as well as the massive combat knife affixed to her breastplate.

Spartan, Noble Six. The latter, he was sure, had to be a unit ID. Spartan however…almost certainly the special forces branch to which she belonged. The question then became this, were all in her branch so physically intimidating? Or was she a one off, selected for just such purpose?

The possibility it might be the former was worrisome. Just what were they doing that they could make soldiers as big as her?

"That should be sufficient I'm sure." Hackett said amiably. "If you'll step through the scanner we can begin.

The Captain stepped through without any incident, however this woman. Noble Six set off a number of alarms when she tried to do the same. The guard standing there grimaced. "Er—ma'am? It seems you're shielded from our scans in some way…" The officer said weakly.

She cocked her head silently, then looked once again to her superior. he nodded after a moment and she seemed to hesitate. Finally there was a nod and a crackle of energy cascaded over her armour before she stepped back through the portal.

Noble Six set off alarms again and the guard waved him over to check their readings. They'd actually seen something this time as opposed to the black and white the sensors had shown when she'd walked through before. It's just what the scanners were showing that was problematic. But not something to quibble over right then.

"We're good, step this way." He said nodding firmly to the guard who relaxed.

He led the group over to the main conference room and indicated the chairs around the table. The Captain sat tentatively but the large armoured soldier did not. At his questioning look, the Spartan spoke for the first time. "I'm afraid I weigh too much in this armour for your chair to be able to support me. It's better if I stand." She said simply in a plain inflectionless voice.

He nodded accepting that. And the others in his own party moved to be seated, with the exception of Jennifer who took to emulating the soldier across from them. "I suppose I'd better make introductions." Hackett noted tiredly, before gesturing to those beside him. "This is Admiral David Anderson, Captain Hannah Shepard of the _Orizaba_ and her Daughter Commander Jennifer Shepard of the _Normandy_. I am Admiral Steven Hackett, current head of the Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet."

The man across from him nodded blandly to each of those indicated. "I am Captain Nathaniel Hale of the _Stand and Deliver_. This is Spartan B-312 also known as Noble Six."

Hackett raised an eyebrow at the lack of a normal moniker. Was the Captain withholding her identity for some reason, or did he simply not know it himself?

"Pleasure." Steven said formally. "Now, as I'm sure all here are aware, we are meeting to discuss the reasons behind a fleet of unknown ships violating sovereign Alliance space. I suppose there is no point in delaying, so I guess I'd better just ask. What brings you and your ships back to home turf Captain? Particularly aboard a warship larger than any craft recognized by the treaty of Farixen?"

The Captain stared blankly at him, clearly not recognizing the reference. "I'm afraid I don't know of that treaty Admiral, as for what me and my ships are doing here, that's a rather complicated story…"

"Then by all means, we'll hear it if you're willing." Hackett allowed.

Hale nodded gratefully. "We were stationed at a UNSC world known as Reach. It had come under attack by Covenant forces and we were forced to evacuate the planet. Whilst fleeing my reduced battlegroup and the civilian ships we were protecting were forced to fight our way clear and make a randomized slipspace jump to prevent the Covenant from discovering the location of any of our colonies. This is what we refer to as the Cole Protocol."

Hackett was taken aback, while the words by and large made sense individually, the final product did not. However it was Anderson who spoke up. "I'm sorry let me stop you right there for a moment. I'm afraid I'm not following you. I've never heard of a human world known as Reach, or this Covenant, am I right in supposing that they are an Alien organization?"

Hale nodded. "The Covenant is a theocratic coalition of species which we have been at war with for some time." He raised his hands to stop them. "I understand your confusion truly I do, perhaps if I finish my explanation?"

The three senior Alliance officers looked to each other before sharing a nod. "Very well, you may continue…" Hackett agreed noting the way Jennifer Shepard was staring cautiously at those across from her.

"We made a randomized jump, using our method of FTL travel. It was during this jump that we experienced an…anomaly when crossing the threshold. When we arrived when experienced another anomaly, our star charts did not seem to recognize where we were. Not exactly anyways. The rotation of the galaxy was off, and many of the stellar formations did not match. At first we assumed it a glitch, and had our AIs check it over but…" Hale explained patiently.

"AIs?" Anderson asked sharply. "I assume you mean Artificial Intelligences?"

The Captain looked curious at the tone of the Admirals voice, "Yes,"

Steven shook his head slightly at David and the man subsided for the moment. "I assume it wasn't a glitch judging by your tone."

Hale shook his head. "Some of the stars matched, Sol, for example is right where it should be, hence why we proceeded here. However…everything is wrong. I don't know how to put it more plainly than that." He admitted, clearly chagrined.

"Can you elaborate?" Hannah asked, speaking up for the first time.

"The stars are about three to four hundred years out of position, what ones actually are where we tried looking for them. But it's more than that. We've never heard of the Systems Alliance, and yet here you are. The rulers of Earth." He sighed seeing their expressions. "Reach isn't the home system of our people Admiral Hackett. Earth is, I was here several months ago by our reckoning, and at that time it was under the control of the UNSC and UEG."

Hackett eyed the man doubtfully. "The Alliance has always been humanities united governing force in the galaxy Captain. As for this UNSC you represent. I've never heard of it. Unless you are referring to the United Nations Security Council."

Hale shook his head. "No, the UNSC as I know it is the United Nation Space Command. Strictly speaking a subsidiary of the United Earth Government. However that is more semantics than anything the UNSC has basically run humanities efforts in space since it's inception." he saw the continued suspicious looks and sighed. "Look, maybe this will clear it up. Our AIs are virtually convinced we somehow were forced out of our reality and into yours. Yes, you heard me right." He said as those across from him looked confused. "When we left it was 2552, what is the date here?"

Jennifer finally spoke up quietly. "2186, presuming you're using the Anno Domini system."

"We are." Hale agreed, briefly glancing at her and waiting to hear their judgements.

Those across from him were stonily silent. "You claim to be from another reality?" Hackett eventually asked.

"That is my understanding of matters yes. One supported by what I've seen." He agreed wearily. "You don't use the same method of FTL as us, I've never heard of an Alliance of Systems or whatever before, and from what pictures we've seen on unshielded broadcasts your Earth is somewhat different from our own…"

Hackett was rubbing his chin thoughtfully now. "And you use vessels far larger than most. Whilst using a method of FTL we do not recognize. Tell me Captain if I said 'Element Zero' what would you think?"

Hale frowned shrugging. "Never heard of it. I imagine it's impossible too, seeing as that would require an element to have zero mass."

"Yes. Or at least when active it appears to. We use it as the basis for a great deal of our technology. Artificial Gravity, Mass Accelerators, Kinetic Barriers, FTL…Biotics." Hackett admitted. He paused considering. "You've made contact with aliens yes?"

His counterpart nodded, "Yes, if you call a war of extermination _contact._ " He noted sounding bitter. Hackett paused considering that, before turning to look at Jenn.

"Commander if you could bring up some pictures of the various species we've encountered?" He requested, receiving a nod as she stepped up to work the controls for the table's built in computers.

"I am curious to see if any of the species we recognize appear familiar to you." He explained baldly.

Captain Hale inclined his head in understanding before turning his attention to the table as it's holographic projector powered up.

One by one images of every known organic species in the Galaxy appeared floating over the table. Asari, Turian, Salarian, Krogan, Batarian, Vorcha, Drell, Hanar, Elcor, Volus, Quarian and even the Raloi and Yahg.

For his own part he kept his eyes fixed on the man across from him gauging his reaction. He had to say either Captain Hale was an actor of uncommon quality for a naval officer, or he truly did not recognize the species arrayed before him.

Finally the Captain shook his head. "No, none of those are familiar to me." He said staring back at the Alliance Admiral now.

Hackett hummed in acknowledgement before turning his attention to his companions. "Opinions?" He asked, looking first to Jenn.

"It's…not the most outlandish thing I've heard, but…" She replied eyeing the strangers speculatively. "I find it odd timing considering our concerns about the Batarian systems."

David nodded sober agreement. "Those here know that we are almost certainly on the edge of a major crisis, under normal circumstances I'd be inclined to believe it a ruse. However I confess I could imagine more plausible stories that could be used for such a deception…"

Hannah snorted indelicately. "Even the Batarians aren't crazy enough to try and pull a story like that and I sincerely doubt the Reapers would bother with something like this at the eleventh hour."

Her daughter nodded firmly in agreement. "They're all for subterfuge and subversion when they can get away with it, but in my last encounter with them I got the impression we're a bit beyond that now."

"Reapers?" Captain Hale asked curiously, causing Hackett to grimace.

"A threat most out there would tell you was 'theoretical' at best, but one which has been looming on the horizon for a while now. A discussion for another day I think." He replied, deflecting for the moment. Not missing the understanding in the other man's eyes.

He huffed a sigh, "Ok, let's say for the moment that we tentatively accept your claims. What now?"

Here Captain Hale rubbed tiredly at his eyes before responding. "Honestly I don't know. We have nowhere else to go. Most of our fleet are refugees and we're not supplied for a long mission. Whether we like it or not, we need you if we're even attempt to find our way home."

The Alliance Officers shared largely unreadable looks between them, before Admiral Hackett nodded, "Okay, let's talk."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Hope you enjoyed that. This is it for now with this one. As ever, please review and comment.


	4. StarcraftME Plotbunny

**CCEV Heshra's Light**

 **Relay 819**

 **Estimated Date [Human Calendar]**

 **4:30 A.M July 2557 A.D/C.E**

Captain Aetherea Mura of the Citadel Council Exploration Vessel Heshra's Light, paced slowly back and forth on the slightly raised deck of the bridge's command suite. A small platform lifted somewhat above the deck of the rest of the ship's small, but well appointed command and control room. And though the Asari Matron would never admit it should anyone have asked, she was just a tad impatient.

Not that there was anything she could do to actually speed her vessel along on its journey towards it's destination. They were on approach, waiting for the newly activated 819 Relay to perform its calculations and jump sequence which would catapult them a goodly distance across the galaxy into uncharted space.

This process would go as quickly as it always did and not a single moment faster. The reason for her impatience was this. The Heshra's Light was the first vessel officially sanctioned by the Council to activate and explore beyond a dormant relay in many centuries. Not since the disastrous Rachni Wars, had the Citadel permitted the exploration of the relay network. Understandable, considering the last time they'd opened a relay a swarm of killer, highly aggressive insectoids had nearly overrun council space. That the error had then been compounded by the equally disastrous uplifting of the Krogan to fight them had only worsened matters.

It was a highly prestigious and exciting turn for her career that she'd been selected, of all those available, to lead this new wave of exploratory vessels into the vast unknown. She didn't want to mess it up. And she couldn't wait to see what lay beyond!

Statistically speaking they were almost certain to find an unoccupied system on their first jump. After all space was unquestionably vast and the area occupied by sentient species was relatively small, her second in command Erkop Jaezalo, an ever logical Salarian had pointed out dryly. Still, she could always hope they'd be lucky.

Finding a sapient species was the prized achievement that all exploratory scientists lusted after however, and considering the size of the region of space the 819 relay led to…there was a good chance that somewhere in that yawning void they'd find someone. She couldn't help but wonder what they would be like?

"Jumping!" Announced a Turian Helmswoman as the relay reached out to grab their vessel. Aetherea's pacing paused briefly, the Asari matron staring at the stream of blue light burning past their windows as they were launched across interstellar space. 3-2-1, she counted off in her head after the deceleration alarm sounded, and braced herself, hand against the railing as the ship heeled slightly as they slowed to sublight speeds, the blackness of the void returning.

"Jump successful," The same Turian female reported dutifully, her mandibles clenching and unclenching slightly as she looked over the reports coming in on her holographic screen.

"All stations report," Captain Mura instructed returning to her slow pacing. Her finger tapping idly on the railing which she hadn't yet released after the jump.

"Sensors coming online now. Please wait…" The Salarian manning that station, Morol, requested smoothly and she nodded turning her attention to her second.

Erkop looked up from his own station. "Engines nominal, life-support steady…navigation?" He queried aloud.

"Drift just off five thousand units…" The helmswoman reported.

"Very good," Erkop agreed and nodded to his superior.

She looked back at the sensor operator. "Sensors cleared, we've arrived, edge of system…roughly Eighty standard astronomical units from system centre." Morol reported blandly. "Taking inventory of system objects now…done. Interesting, and mildly problematic…" He noted seriously as he nodded.

Aetherea cocked her head. "Morol?"

He waved to her idly. "Apologies, it appears this system's relay has been dormant for a very long time, it was encased ice before our arrival shattered it. Debris field will make approach difficult. In addition system is relatively crowded…"

She sighed, so at the very least they'd be here a day or two before they could jump back to known space and report. Speaking of which… "Astrogation, how far are we from Citadel space?"

The Asari manning that station looked up briefly smiling, "We have a new record Captain, this linked pair of relays has the longest jump distance yet recorded. Just over three thousand light years rim-ward into the outer sector of the uncharted arm of the Galaxy." She stated, bringing up an image depicting them nearly smack dab in the middle of the large expanse of unexplored void on the galaxy map.

Aetherea hummed in appreciation. Considering just where they'd jumped from that was an extraordinarily long jump. She couldn't help but wonder if they'd have been better off picking one of the other relays into the region. Maybe 314, or 564?

She turned her attention back to Morol. "Sorry for interrupting you, anything of interest in this system?"

He nodded, "Two asteroid belts and an extensive dust disk," He reported. "We're sitting near the outer edge of the latter. Detecting…two gas giants, first one red with medium rings about it…Would need to be closer for material description." Morol admitted. "The other is smaller, shows green on the scanners. But it's the other major objects which are most interesting!" he reported, raising a finger to stall any interruptions.

"Three terrestrial worlds. Two between the medium K-type midlife star and the first asteroid belt. Unfortunately likely too close to the star to be habitable judging by the stars spectra." He lamented. "Last planet however… well within the star's life sector! Reading medium sized planet, roughly the size of Thessia or Sur'kesh. Two Moons, medium, huh...with a large ring system. Reading an atmosphere…"

She leaned forward that was potentially promising, when looking for worlds which might be habitable the first thing you checked was how close to it's star was it, and how much radiation did it get hit with from said star. Then you checked to see how many satellites it had. Worlds without natural satellites to shield them rarely sustained life for long. If this world had an atmosphere as well as two moons and a ring for protection…well it might very well have the ability to sustain life.

"Would need to be closer for anything more detailed." Morol reported. "System scans…show clear of major planetoids otherwise, though I'll forward what I have in my report." He promised.

She nodded sagely and looked to Erkop. "Thoughts?"

He considered, lips quirking only slightly, showing despite his cool persona that he was nevertheless pleased with what they had found. "The world Morol just described sounds promising. We will need to wait for the debris around the relay to clear first anyways. Why don't we take a closer look? Say just outside it's most distant moon's orbit?

Aetherea nodded. "I concur. Perhaps we should have astrogation deploy probes to better chart the system's navigational hazards. Might as well get a head start on that now."

It was close to ten minutes later as a dozen probes streaked off across the system in various directions that the Heshra's Light once again secured for travel. "All stations report ready." Erkop reported.

"Very well, take us in. Let's see what we've found here." Aetherea instructed and soon the ship was streaking it's way across system using it's own built in FTL engines to close with the potentially promising planet. It was only a few minutes later that they dropped out in orbit of one of the planet's two moons.

"Jump successful." The helmswoman reported.

"Sensors online. Scanning." Reported Morol his hands eagerly dancing across the boards. "And…We've got a positive hit!" He exclaimed, "Terrestrial world three's atmosphere reads as near perfect Thessia standard oxygen-nitrogen mix!"

This received an excited cry from the crew. A promising start to their expedition indeed. At the very least their first system had turned up a potentially colonizable world.

"Detecting large oceans of liquid water…significant landmasses…judging by the green we almost certainly have photosynthetic life and—" Here Morol stopped.

The Captain looked up as he stopped, ignoring the jubilation of the others. His hands hovered above the board as he stared at his screen. "Warning," He murmured. "Detecting five radiological hazard alarms on planet. Redefining search parameters…Scanning now,"

The others quieted at that, that this planet had detectable radiological issues was worrisome, perhaps it had been struck by a solar flare or something similar? "By the great wheel of life!" Morol exclaimed, drawing the others attentions. "Artificial constructs detected. radiological signature rated M-12. Confirmed radiological weapons scarring on planet's surface."

Aetherea couldn't believe it. First jump, first system and they had found signs of life. Albeit signs of conflict as well, but still. "Show us Morol…"

The main viewer on the bridge lit up. It showed the primarily green surface of the planet, blotches of brown indicating deserts and mountains. Then there, along one of the equatorial coast lines, the telltale white grey of artificial habitation and the black and grey scorch marks of weapons craters nearby. What was more interesting was the structures they could see rising from the largest urbanized areas.

A large silvery spire which rose up beyond the edge of the camera. "Spirits," murmured the Helmswoman. "Do we detect any radio signals? Is anyone still down there?" She asked.

"Checking," Morol muttered absently. "Negative, no radio transmissions on any bands detected. Zero emissions of any kind from the cities…trying to determine what that object is…"

The camera zoomed out until… "Artificial satellite detected!" He reported as a large roughly circular silver object entered their field of vision. "Reads 8 kilometres across, it connects to the surface via…ha!" He barked a laugh. "It's a space elevator! I should have seen it sooner."

"Space Elevator?" One of the younger Asari officers asked curiously.

"Theoretical construct, long believed impractical, a method of transferring people and material quickly and efficiently between orbit and surface, the station is likely this world's starport and the tethers used to transfer material and persons back and forth…The station it's wider than the Presidium ring!" He noted in awe.

Morol trailed off as the station's spin revealed something else worrisome, while the majority of the station was intact one side of it had sustained numerous impacts of some kind, exposing much of its superstructure on that side to the void. Here Erkop spoke up. "Intriguing, how widespread is the habitation on this world? We see some kind of conflict occurred in this region, perhaps there is something elsewhere?"

Morol shook his head. "Negative, five cities-like analogues detected, no radio signals or other ongoing emissions detected…Hold a moment."

Aetherea turned her attention to Erkop, "A colony then do you think? Small number of reasonably sized settlements, though abandoned, after some kind of conflict?"

He nodded soberly. "Reasonable assumption, but impossible to be certain, we do not know at what rate species ages or procreates, possible this species wiped itself out…Though I readily admit that would not be my first guess."

"Pardon Captain, I've found something else of interest…well a lot of somethings actually." Morol interrupted tentatively. The pointed to the screen. There floating in the void above the planet between it and it's first moon was a debris field. And while much of it was disorganized some of it was not. There at the heart of the faintly glittering cloud of detritus were several orderly rows of objects.

"Can you tell me what I'm seeing?" Aetherea asked leaning forward to peer at the image.

"Yes, several dozen objects almost certainly damaged or destroyed spacecraft, organized with a debris field gathered about them. Can speculate only but can guess that these vessels, mostly falling within the frigate and heavy cruiser weight categorization, were the casualties of the battle which occurred here. Vessels show significant wear and tear, superstructures being open to the void." He explained soberly. "Likely gathered after the battle so the participants could salvage what they could, collect deceased and prevent debris from choking planetary orbit."

She nodded, it made sense, she knew that the Council races practiced similar things. Though they rarely left wrecks behind if they could avoid it. At the very least the vessels remains would be taken home for proper honours then recycling for use in the next generation of warships.

"Any thoughts on why the wrecks were left behind?" She asked.

"Can theorize." Erkop interrupted. "Need to evacuate system might have been pressing thus wrecks were organized but left behind for future reclamation. Also possible that it is a memorial after some fashion…"

She nodded staring at the ship graveyard. "Anything else of note?" She asked.

Morol shrugged. "Could likely tell you a great deal about the composition of the station, organization of the cities, and radiological signature of the weapons, but would not be able to give you more details about the species without closer examination. Not my specialty. Can tell you this however, respectfully, can speculate there may be more to the debris field and wrecks than Erkop mentioned. Noticed this on last scan, all wrecks as well as station of similar makeup, thick superstructures of Titanium with various composites, some familiar, some not with plating of unknown metallic compounds. However, second material profile common in small disorganized debris clusters within the field. Almost entirely made up of mixture of entirely unfamiliar composites, compounds and organic materials. Different exterior visual spectra too!" He admitted, "Wrecks present display as you can see black hulls with white markings, what little foreign debris is present is almost all dark, brown or black in colour."

Moral shrugged again. "As I said speculation only, but I believe that the remains of one of the factions vessels are not present beyond small traces which were not considered worthy of collection."

She leaned forward sucking at her teeth speculatively, before shaking her head. This was way beyond what her mission briefing specified. She was an explorer, a scientist yes, and while she was trained in first contact scenarios she was not certified for investigating alien ruins or artifacts. Nor was she some sort of crime scene investigator or military specialist to make sense of what had happened here. "As much as I want to get a closer look at all this, that is beyond our purview for the moment. Though I think we've performed above and beyond expectations, I'm very proud of all of you!" She said looking to her slightly disappointed crew. "We will wait until the debris around the relay clears, collecting what data we can from this distance then we will return to Citadel space and send our report asking for orders. We'll let the Council figure out what we should do next."

* * *

 **Serpent Nebula**

 **Citadel Station**

 **Presidium, Asari Councillor's Quarters**

Inara Tevos, current councillor to the Citadel Council for the Asari species, leaned back against the edge of the bath in her executive suite, luxuriating in the heat of the water, and the way it leached the stress and toxins from her flesh. She had spent yet another long largely unproductive day in yet another round of negotiations with the representative from the Hanar Illuminated Primacy.

To say that the whole affair had been as uncomfortable and tiring as possible was a monumental understatement. Not only had the Hanar once again refused to budge of the issue of potentially allowing researchers to examine the ruins of a Prothean site on one of their worlds, but she hadn't even been able sit down and discuss the matter in a civilized fashion because of the Hanar's nature. The Hanar could not sit, strictly speaking, being what for all intents and purposes were environment-suit-clad jellyfish. And they often found it rude for another sentient to do so while they could not.

So she was in need of a good dip after the day she had endured. She'd been fortunate at least. It had been Moklin who had accompanied her to the negotiations today and not the Turian Councillor Sparatus. Sparatus was the most stubborn, brutish and outright racist son of a Krogan whore that she'd ever had the misfortune to work alongside. He was no longer welcome in the Hanar Embassy after a Drell guard had been forced to drag him off one of the Hanar diplomats.

She heard the water shift as her bond mate slid into the bath beside her, and she smiled. She was about to comment when a warbling tone rung from the rooms communications station and she groaned. It figured someone would call her at this hour. She wasn't going to get up for it and abandon her hard earned bath though, if they really wanted to speak with her they'd have to deal with it. "Privacy screen on!" She called, then shot her bond mate a regretful look as the holographic field extended across the bath to protect her modesty from the shoulder down.

Her mate smiled ruefully before swimming to the other side of the pool out of sight of the cameras and hit the call accept button before settling in where she wouldn't be noticed. The screen popped up from the edge of the tub and another Asari's face appeared. "Apologies Councillor, I know you and your bond mate wanted to relax but you have a call coming in from the Council Joint Exploration Committee. They say it's urgent." The other Asari secretary apologized not blinking at the situation her employer was in.

Tevos fought the urge to groan. The Joint Exploration committee was always badgering her and the other councillors about some helium rich gas ball they'd found somewhere or other. And it was always urgent….Unless—

She cocked her head in curiosity at the Asari on the screen. "Does it have to do with the expedition through the 819 relay, that was to go forward a couple days ago wasn't it?"

The other Asari shrugged, "I'm sorry ma'am I don't know they didn't tell me. I do know it's from Matriarch Aethyta herself though."

She nodded easily, thinking of the rather…robust personality of the Matriarch in question. Aethyta was a lot of things but one to blather about unimportant nonsense with the Councillor for her people on a late night call, she was not. "Put her through."

The screen blanked for a moment before clearing displaying a blatantly naked Asari seated on a couch somewhere and she sighed in exasperation. "Aethyta, I could have been in public when I took this call, are you trying to get us all labeled barbarians?" She snapped irritably.

Asari were much more open about their bodies and sexuality amongst themselves, even when not personally intimate, however it was considered very gauche to appear naked in the company or sight of other species. Most had…views, on such things.

The other Asari snorted indelicately sipping from a cup of wine raising a brow (or what passed for one on Asari) at her. "Come on Tevos, don't be such a stick in the mud, 'sides I happen to know you are at home right now with only you and her, in attendance. Now quit farting around and listen up I've got news for you."

This time Tevos rolled her eyes, something she'd adopted from one of her old bond mates to express exasperation. How Aethyta knew the things she did, no one she'd ever spoken with had managed to explain it. But the Asari in question always seemed to know who was where doing what, or whom, at all times. It was disconcerting from a being whose official job was figuring out where starships should fly to find something of value. "Very well Aethyta get on with it. Just promise me you'll do this to Sparatus some time, maybe you'll give the stuckup old bird a heart attack and rid me of his incompetence?" She suggested.

The Matriarch guffawed before shaking her head. "I'll keep it in mind. Knowing him he'd send a fleet after me though. Impinging his honour or some such…as fun as that line of thought is though I did actually have something you need to hear about." Aethyta noted sobering.

Tevos indicated she was listening, and the other Matriarch pressed on. "Got a call about half an hour ago, that expedition we sent through the 819 relay found something. They hurried back soon as they finished a basic system survey to give their report."

Tevos sat up in moderate interest, "On their first system? They can't have visited that many yet surely?"

"Yeah, surprised me too." Aethyta noted shrugging nonchalantly. "Remarkable system all the way round actually, two large mineral rich asteroid belts, two helium rich gas giants, three terrestrial worlds." She raised a finger to forestall any interruption. "One of which is a garden world in the middle of the gold zone for the system's star. But that's not what had Captain Mura's panties in a twist." Aethyta said with satisfaction. Likely that she'd gotten the chance to insert a joke about another Asari's unmentionables, Tevos speculated darkly, sipping at her wine.

"The garden world is inhabited, or rather it was, until recently her team thinks, though it's currently abandoned. Looks like someone had a bit of a dust up." The somewhat boorish Asari reported smugly.

Now that had Tevos' attention. "They found traces of a space faring race?" The councillor asked getting a nod, she sat back again considering the matter. "Well that is an amazing coincidence."

"Yeah, ain't it though?" Aethyta agreed happily. "Captain Mura followed procedure, nothing's been touched yet, especially seeing as the system showed signs of recent conflict. They thought we might want to send someone a bit more suited for investigating such things."

Tevos nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, as I recall the exploration team does have first contact certified specialists but none that have a more investigative bent. And you say there were signs of a battle recently?"

Aethyta wiggled happily further into the cushions piled high on her couch. "Yes, damage to the planet, looks like someone dropped some nuclear weapons or something on the locals, not a lot but enough to make one loud bang. Damage to the station in orbit, which happens to be a touch wider than the Presidium ring of the Citadel you'll be interested to know," Aethyta pointed out shooting Tevos a knowing look. Tevos nodded impressed. "Also whoever it was that was fighting out there took the time to gather up the debris and wrecks from the aftermath in a semi organized fashion. Don't know how these people classified them of course, but by our reckoning they were Frigate and Heavy Cruiser weight. Perhaps a couple dozen of them."

The Councillor nodded making a decision. "Very well, we'll put together a task force to investigate. I'll leave you in charge of picking specialists. I'll see about wrangling the the Executor for an escort tomorrow." She agreed.

She was surprised when her bond mate stood and sashayed across the bath towards her shooting a coy look at Aethyta as she entered the camera's field of view. Uncaring for how she exposed herself to the other Asari standing as she was above the privacy screen. "Would I be right in guessing Aethyta that a certain young xeno-archaeologist we both know will be among those you select?"

Aethyta snorted in amusement, "Sha'ira, nice of you to show your…face finally. See Tevos, that's how you do it. Show a little ass now and then and blatantly throw around people's deep dark secrets!" Aethyta chortled. "And since you ask, yes, Liara will be among those I tap for this operation."

Tevos rolled her eyes. "Yes, very nice you two. You're both master spies. Now, if there's nothing more?" She said pointedly glaring somewhat at Aethyta.

"Nope, nothing on my end. I'll leave you two to it. Have nice evening you two, don't do anything I wouldn't do…" The other Asari teased before raising a remote to switch off the call, which blanked out a moment later.

Tevos sighed looking to her lover in exasperation, "You know, I'm aware she was already in the know about who I spend my evenings with but you didn't have to confirm it to her." She groused playfully.

Sha'ira chuckled lightly, "I know, but it's fun to play games with another master now and then. Let her know she's not the only one who knows things once in awhile…."

"Fair enough." Tevos agreed, settling back against the tub switching off the privacy screen with a murmured command.

"Good, now where were we?" Sha'ira asked snuggling into her companion's side. "Oh yes—"

* * *

 **Shrike Abyssal**

 **Xe Cha System**

 **Volus Mining Colony Zada Ban**

 **Prothean Dig Site 3A**

Liara T'soni hated this planet, for a supposed garden world Zada Ban had a lot of problems. The worst of which were it's radioactive dust storms, resultant from the colossal uranium deposits present at the planet's equator. The one last night had filled in a goodly portion of her dig site again. She'd had to spend most of the day clearing it away.

Still it could be far worse she reflected. She was a newly minted PhD in xeno-archaeology. A prodigy at only 80 years of age, she was lucky to have been granted control of a real dig site at all, and not been shackled once again to the coat tails of more….experienced Asari specialists. Not that the Prothean ruins here on Zada Ban were particularly exciting thus far. The Protheans had quite clearly figured out exactly the same thing the Volus had, this planet had a lot of uranium to mine.

Although, it was a touch odd they'd failed to fully tap this planet's resources. The Protheans were many things, but wasteful they were not. Generally if you found an old Prothean mine it was just about stripped bare of everything of any real use.

She knelt inside her environment suit in the radioactive dust choking the bottom of the hole she had excavated and carefully used the vacuum hose attachment on her tool rig to suck away another pile of dust obscuring the artifact she was examining. Remember she thought to herself, reading the first of the script exhumed on the cracked obelisk. Okay, a reminder or notice of some sort maybe?

Liara exhumed the rest of the message and considered it. Some of the words were damaged so she'd need to pull out her scanner to get a good look at what they had looked like before they'd been ruined…Still she could have fun trying to figure out what it said first. Remember _ Are Important, Please _ at all times. Lest you _ children. She scratched her head through the hood of her suit. Puzzling, a bit odd that. She pulled out the scanner and let it reconstruct the damaged words before blinking in confusion at the message it provided.

Remember, pants are important, please wear at all times. Lest you frighten and horrify the children. Thank you.

She sighed, the Protheans were an odd race. Inspiring, undoubtedly, as they had spanned the galaxy at the height of their power. Built great wonders no one had matched, and yet….Sometimes they left behind the oddest messages about themselves. Perhaps it indicated a sense of humour? Or maybe they were just a bit crazy in addition to being geniuses? Hard to say really.

A noisily cleared throat drew her eyes up to the edge of the excavation she was in. A rather rotund Volus was standing on the edge of the depression, his hands resting on his already prodigious natural paunch. "Thessia Clan scientist? You have visitors at the main habitat, yes. They are quite insistent that they see you. Come along now." He said before turning away and marching off out of sight.

She sighed. That was Mordus Vog, the owner of the property this dig site was situated on. He had been annoyingly…persistent. Loitering about the site despite having no real purpose in being there. She suspected rather darkly that he was the reason several small and useless Protean Trinkets had gone missing before they'd started using security mechs to protect the site.

He was also rude. Making demands as he saw fit, despite the fact he had no authority over a Council assigned reclamation team.

She shook her head. Either way she'd need to go visit the main prefabricated habitat they'd set up. If they had visitors she'd be the one required to handle it as lead archeologist on site.

Opening her omni-tool she linked to one of the other archaeologists on site and asked them to take over until she returned.

After hauling herself up and out of the dig and marching over to the cluster of prefabs she found a group of Asari wearing blue armoured uniforms waiting along with a Salarian she did not recognize in dig equipment. "Hello, may I help you?" She asked as she approached.

"Doctor Liara T'soni?" The lead Asari asked formally as she drew even with them.

She nodded. "Yes?"

"Your presence is required at the Citadel, we have been sent to collect you. This is Doctor Jeago Irsu, he'll be taking over this site in your absence." The Asari stated.

"I'm sorry but unless it's urgent I really should—" Liara protested, disliking the notion of being replaced without her consent.

"It's urgent, a direct order from the head of the Joint Exploration Committee co-signed by Councillor Tevos. I'm afraid it's not a request Doctor, please come with us." The Asari stated firmly.

Liara sighed. Great, she'd received a Council level edict to abandon her dig site and report in for something. Probably another one of her mother's thrice damned meet and greets. Goddess knew she'd been putting her off long enough. Though she hadn't thought her mother would go so far as to abuse Citadel authority to get her there. "Very well, I assume I have time to pack my bags?" She asked a touch stiffly.

The Asari across from her nodded. "Of course, we shall be waiting by the shuttle."

Liara huffed a sigh and marched off in the direction of her tent. If this really was about another of her mother's get togethers, there'd be strong words to exchange.

* * *

 **Close to a Galactic Standard Day Later**

 **Serpent Nebula**

 **Citadel Station**

 **Presidium, JEC Headquarters**

The assembly hall of the Joint Exploration Committee's headquarters was a very grand place, one Professor Mordin Solus reflected absently. Likely in deference to the taste for austerity and 'perceived' sense of superiority the Asari architects favoured. Architectural design was not his area of expertise, but he'd dabbled in most subjects at one time or another over his twenty year lifespan. So he knew enough to guess that much.

The hall was currently far less than fully occupied, giving the space a vaguely uncomfortable air that the designers had likely not expected. Aside from himself there were perhaps twenty other sentients at most gathering in the centre of the room.

Mordin was drawn from these reflections and hypothesis by a sharp whistle, which caused silence to fall quickly among those milling about and turn to regard their host.

The Matriarch in question, who was drawing somewhat reproachful looks from those of her own kind in her vicinity for her brashness, smirked in amusement before speaking up. "Alright you lot, get yourself settled so we can get this show on the road."

Mordin, along with the others he knew to be recruits for the JEC's new investigative team, quickly seated himself in the row reserved for them at the front before the Asari in question.

Despite how he had not initially been enthusiastic about this assignment, responsibilities and obligations with the STG weighing heavily upon him, he found himself excited to begin now.

This change in heart largely came as a result of the briefing he'd received from his superiors. Releasing him from the aforementioned responsibilities, and giving him a preview of what to expect from the coming assignment. If what he'd been told thus far was true, this assignment should be much more pleasant, and less morally ambiguous than his work for STG had been thus far.

The briefing and associated material was proving very useful already. He recognized several of those present from the dossiers he'd been provided. Captain Aetherea Mura, currently in command of CCEV Heshra's Light, nearly four hundred years old and well thought of among the Asari Survey Corps.

Then there was Matriarch Aethyta. Known for her brash and somewhat crude tendencies, she was nonetheless one of the Matriarchs that was more respected by the Salarian Union. Largely due to her preference for action over negotiation. Also the 'father' of another Asari in the room if his reports were accurate…

He'd likely have moved on to recalling the data on the Asari in question had his attention not been grabbed by the Spectre in the room.

Tela Vasir, Asari Spectre to the Council. Known for her role in the dissolution of a slave trading ring in the city of Aegohr on the Salarian colony of Nasurn. Though from what he understood that was only because her other works were largely classified. He'd worked with her before. Smart, beautiful yes, and ruthless, with a disturbingly large base of contacts in the galaxy's underworld.

The Asari caught his eye and winked conspiratorially before turning her attention back to the others. The rest of the chamber's inhabitants having finally found their places. The Matriarch stepping up to the podium. "Well then, welcome all to JEC headquarters. I am Matriarch Aethyta, head of the organization. I'd like to thank you all for coming on such short notice. If I were a betting Asari, which I am, I'd bet you all are quiet curious as to just why you're here?" She said smirking in amusement again.

A reasonable supposition for most Mordin acknowledged. Most did not have the intelligence assets that he or the Spectre did after all.

The matriarch leaned casually against the podium before pressing one of the controls on its surface, causing the projector affixed to the ceiling to ignite. The map of the galaxy which sprung to life as the hall darkened was of high quality Mordin noted, as befitting a corps of exploration.

"This—" She said pointing to a now highlighted arm of the Galaxy, "is Arm 5 of the Galaxy, the only currently unexplored arm left."

The map magnified on the region in question. "As the name suggests it makes up roughly one fifth of the galaxy's volume. A vast region of space, which until recently has basically been out of reach… until now."

The image changed to a readout of a specific Solar System and the Mass Relay which had inhabited it. "This is relay 819, discovered a while back by a Mining Guild operating out of the Terminus Systems. We didn't know much about the thing until recently, only that it reached somewhere into the unmapped arm." Aethyta recited giving the relay an unreadable look.

"As some of you should be aware, the Council has recently granted the JEC the right to activate and explore dormant relays. Cautiously of course." She inserted dutifully, though humour danced in her eyes. "Relay 819 was chosen because of those available to us it was believed to reach deepest into unexplored territory. And they were right, damn thing set a record for longest relay jump in the galaxy."

A new image expanded in place of the old, a new much more densely populated system. "The system the relay dumped Captain Mura and her crew into. Three terrestrial worlds, two gas giants and close to three dozen moons. Not to mention the relay which was until recently encased in ice." The Matriarch noted indicating the objects in question. "That's not what really caught our attention of course."

She hit another control and the camera zoomed in on the third planet, just past the first asteroid belt. "Garden world. Which we've chosen to designate Armiger One." She said, piquing Mordin's interest. Armiger was another name for 'soldier', knowing what he did the name was somewhat appropriate.

"Large Oceans, Thessia-Surkesh Grade Atmosphere, rings and a decent sized moon. Not the important bit. Those objects I see you all eyeing around the planet are artificial in origin." Another stab at the controls and an image of the large orbital and the wreckage nearby filled the screen.

"Someone, has fairly recently had a big fight there judging by our analysis of the structures and wrecks. The planet below is abandoned, not surprising considering we found evidence of nuclear strikes against the planet."

That caused a wave of muttering to go around the room and Mordin frowned. Unfortunate, the Council's stance on the use of nuclear devices on garden worlds aside, the use of such devices was problematic. It said something unflattering about whichever species had utilized atomic energy in such a way.

His eyes remained fixed to the images projected however, ignoring the silence from the Matriarch as she waited for those present to digest everything said thus far.

He was staring at the data displayed about the wreckage and the station. The first data set, was intriguing enough on its own. The construction of the profiles in question was crudely utilitarian but spoke of technical capabilities not seen in council space.

It was the second smaller profile which intrigued him more. Traces left behind by whomever the second faction in the battle had been. Organic elements included in the fragments. Fascinating, not since the Rachni had they encountered a species which included organic compounds in the outer hull of starships. Being a xenobiologist this was potentially the most fascinating piece of evidence thus far. He needed more data.

"There's something else." Aethyta, her voice calm as she observed their reactions. "The part which has the Council most excited. Upon further analysis of the wreckage, our team noticed something they'd previously overlooked…"

Bringing the projection back to encompass the entire system, she dropped the biggest bombshell of the meeting. "Aside from that which is present in the mass relay, this system is entirely devoid of any traces of element zero. Yes, that includes the ships and space station."

Now that created a stir, causing even Mordin to blink in surprise. That had not been in the briefing.

"Impossible!" Someone shouted from further back in the hall. Whomever it was, was not the only one to voice their disbelief. Mordin understood why, almost all advanced spacefaring technology in the galaxy—until now it seemed— was based on Element Zero and the 'Mass Effect' it created when a charge was applied.

Once she'd overridden the protests of those present Aethyta spoke again. "It is the considered belief of our specialists that this system is not a species homeworld, merely a colony. This suggests that those present in the battle for this system must therefore have possessed an alternative method of interstellar flight."

"Could they not have simply used the system relay?" A Turian two rows back interjected. Immediately earning a shaken head from the matriarch and Mordin's own exasperation, clearly the Turian in question had forgotten that the relay had previously been encased in ice. Or had simply not been paying attention.

The Turian was pointedly reminded of this fact and slunk back in his seat abashed a few moments later.

"It goes without saying that the Council is very interested in the possibility of another sentient species or two." The Matriarch stated, though her tone indicated that she knew full well it was not their primary interest. "However they are even more intrigued by the possibility of advanced technology which does not require the Mass Effect to function."

She shrugged. "Regardless, you will be divided up into teams, according to specialization in order to assist in the mission of examining and exploring the Armiger System in detail. Captain Mura and her team will be the lead division for this project and all other teams must defer to her." Aethyta said formally.

The Asari then cast an evaluative look over the room, a small fond smile briefly quirking her lips as they fell on a young Asari in the front row, before moving on. "You were all chosen for this mission for a good reason. You are the best, brightest and most promising members of your fields. I have no doubt you will accomplish great things." She assured them, before smiling a touch roguishly. "Now then, who here wants to go make some history?"

* * *

 **Close to Three Hours Later**

 **Citadel Station**

 **Presidium, Docks, C-Sec Traffic Control Tower 3**

"You manage to speak with her this time around?" Aethyta asked, leaning casually against the wall.

Her companion another, more regally attired, Asari gave her a weary look before shaking her head. "No, I tried to schedule a meeting with her, but she declined."

Aethyta sighed sadly. "I'm sorry Nezzie. I know how much that's gotta hurt. Little Bird's gone and stretched her wings, left the nest…"

Matriarch Benezia, for that was indeed who her companion was frowned thinly. "Indeed, and apparently has decided she has no desire to look back." She murmured bitterly before raising a hand to forestall any follow up to that. "They are well supplied?" She asked, jerking her chin slightly at the survey ship moored below them on the docks.

Her companion gave her a sad and knowing look but didn't push. "Yeah, made sure they had more supplies than they could possibly need. You get their escorts sorted out?"

Benezia nodded gracefully, "Yes, aside from Spectre Vasir, a team of commandos and the STG scientist, the Turians have provided their own form of protection."

This earned her a sharp look from the other Asari, "Not that Bastard Saren?"

She shook her head, stifling a small chuckle of amusement at Aethyta's reaction, "No, I knew perfectly well how you'd react if I had requested he be assigned. And it just so happens I agree with you. Saren is without a doubt a skilled agent, however, he is also blunt, arrogant and needlessly ruthless with little provocation." She paused a moment to collect herself, "The Turians assigned a small flotilla under Adrien Victus. Three Ships."

Aethyta smiled, relief all but pouring off her, "Ah, that'd do. Always liked Victus, knows when to throw away the book when the rules would get him and his men killed."

This earned her a small knowing smile in return, "I thought you might approve."

The pair stood in silence for a time as the vessel loaded the last of the cargo piled high on the dock, crew scurrying back and forth across the gangways to the ship. Finally Benezia broke the silence. "Speak to me plainly, Thyta…" She requested, uncharacteristic softness entering her voice. "What do you think our daughter will find out there? Is she in danger?"

Benezia suspected Aethyta had to stifle any number of glib remarks and irreverent quips, but was grateful that she clearly had done so, in deference to her feelings. Finally she shook her head. "No more than any exploration team is I think. Less in fact considering the protections we just discussed. Is she 'safe'?" Aethyta asked rhetorically and shrugged, though not like she was uncaring of the answer. "No one is truly safe, especially those who push the boundaries. And you and I both know Liara's always done that."

The other Asari chuckled sadly in agreement before nodding and straightening somewhat, her more austere mask back in place. "Thank you for your time Aethyta. You have set my mind at ease somewhat. I appreciate it."

There was a wistful note to the small smiled which graced her old lover's lips, "Anything for you babe…You needed anywhere else some time soon?" She asked after a moment.

Benezia considered her, "No, my schedule is clear for the moment. Why?"

"I was thinking we should have a meal together, been a while hasn't it? Be nice to catch up, haven't spoken to you at length in ages." Aethyta pointed out.

Her counterpart considered her before sighing and shaking her head. "I am not certain that would be wise Thyta. It didn't work between us, you know why."

This earned her a grimace and low grumble from Aethyta, "We gave up you mean. Whatever other reasons we claimed to have, that was the heart of it. Life got difficult and we gave up on each other when we should have stuck it out."

Benezia shifted uncomfortably, not the least because Aethyta's rather blunt statement rang all too true for her as well.

"Look," Placated Aethyta, partially shaking off her surly mood. "I'm not asking for anything more than a chance to eat and catch up Nezzie. It's really not skin off your ass."

She couldn't help but chuckle and roll her eyes fondly at her companions somewhat crude statement, but nodded, conceding the round to her. "Very well, yes I would share a meal with you. As it so happens I have a number of stories about Liara you may not have heard before…"

Aethyta smiled brightly at the thought of that. "Great! You have a preference for food?"

Benezia was about to answer when motion and caution lights beyond the window caught her attention. Watching the ship as it cast off its moorings and eased away from the dock side. "Leaving rather quickly aren't they?" She ventured after a while.

Her companion nodded, "They're explorers, and they have something new and exciting to see. Of course they're in a hurry."

That made sense she supposed, though she remained silent until the vessel had drifted out of sight. "T'sura's in one hour? I should really drop some things off at my apartment first. I will meet you there?"

Aethyta nodded, and voiced her agreement at that, before watching the other Asari glide towards the door, before stopping, and turning to consider her. "Thyta? I am glad to see you again, it's been far too long."

Benezia paused long enough to see her smile and nod in return before turning away and leaving. If she'd stayed a couple moments longer she'd have heard Aethyta sigh as she turned to watch the stars. "Damn right it has…"

* * *

 **Later That Day**

 **'Armiger' System**

 **Uncharted Galactic Arm**

Liara braced slightly against the railing as the ship heaved slightly beneath her feet and they decelerated out of the Mass Relay and into the Armiger System.

She had…trouble, describing her feelings on the matter. On the one hand, she was somewhat confused as to her purpose here with the expedition. She was a Prothean expert, an archaeologist. Therefore her purview was purely in the past, with long dead races. So what was she doing being called upon to study a potentially still living one?

On the other hand, the chance to study and potentially discover at least one new race, if not more was an exciting opportunity, one outside her normal field of experience. And what she'd heard thus far was already highly intriguing. A race, or perhaps multiple races, who built massive architecturally impressive constructs, and travelled the stars, by means apparently separate from the Mass Effect.

That was unheard of, everyone used the Mass Effect. Which was understandable as all the races as yet encountered based the majority of their advanced technology off that which was left behind by the Protheans.

"Exciting, isn't it?" A voice sounded from beside her and she gave a small start before schooling herself upon seeing the Salarian standing there. An odd fellow, young, but already missing one of his 'horns'. "New species, not reliant on the mass effect? Intriguing yes," He conceded speaking rapidly, not awaiting a reply. "I confess myself more intrigued by something else however."

She raised a brow at him, "Oh? I would think that the lack of Mass Effect technology would be exciting enough."

He bobbed his head, "Understandable, your field of study is geared towards the Protheans yes? Not so with me, I am a xenobiologist, thus differing interests. Find the notion of partially biological technology…intriguing. Not since the Rachni has such a thing been seen."

She shivered slightly, "Hopefully they, whomever they are, are more amenable to civilized discussion than the Rachni, should we find them of course. I am sorry, I do not believe we have been introduced, but you seem to know me?"

He blinked, "Ah, apologies Dr T'soni. Mordin Solus, have read some of your papers in regards to the Prothean extinction. Intriguing hypotheses, but insufficient data to support or refute theories—Also, yes. Rachni aggression problematic, hopefully not indicative of trend within those who use biologically based technology."

Liara nodded ready agreement with that statement. Of all the foes that the citadel had faced, the Rachni were among the more…terrifying. She'd heard stories from veterans of that war.

She absently noted that the ship was once again in FTL, albeit the less powerful version afforded to ships, rather than that facilitated by the Relays. She was about to comment on that when another voice interrupted. "I'm more concerned that these species were apparently at war. That is hardly a promising first impression of them. Leaving aside that one of them apparently deployed nuclear devices against the planet."

Liara straightened quickly upon seeing the Asari standing in the doorway. The Spectre, that much had been obvious to her from the symbol on the Asari's armoured shoulder. Spectres were a…troublesome bunch. The Council's chosen agents, but unshackled by laws or even by borders. There were as many stories of heroism as there were of shady dealings and questionable actions taken to preserve the peace when it came to Spectres.

The Asari inclined her chin at the Salarian. "Mordin, still causing trouble I hope?"

Mordin bobbed his head, "Vasir, pleased you are with us, rumours had circulated you understand, was worried this assignment would go to Spectre Arturius"

Liara stifled a shiver at that, Saren Arturius was the one Spectre she'd encountered before this, and she had no desire to repeat the experience. He had a dark reputation and from what little interaction she'd had with the Turian at the last soiree of her mother's that she'd attended he'd come across as ruthless and cold. There was something…wrong with him, though she couldn't put her finger on what exactly.

The ship decelerated before any response could be tendered and their destination filled the window. A great blue green sphere under white clouds. A shining grey and silver construct connected to the world by a thin collection of threads and a cloud of debris sparkling and twisting in the night not far away.

"It appears we've arrived," Spectre Vasir noted dryly, as a tone sounded over the ship's intercom.

"Attention all hands, we've arrived at our destination," Came Captain Mura's over the speakers. "Exploration teams please report to the cargo bay for briefing, That is all."

The intercom clicked off. "Mordin would you accompany me?" The Spectre requested. "I have some things to discuss with you, and perhaps you can answer some of my questions?"

Mordin nodded quickly before hurriedly moving to follow the Asari as she made to leave the room. "Of course, have questions also, perhaps enlightenment can be mutual?" He speculated before the door closed behind them.

Liara lingered only a moment longer, casting a glance outside towards the planet. She had a feeling, ill defined and ephemeral as it was, that something big was happening. She was no fool, she had suspected Mordin was likely an STG agent as well as a scientist even before he and the Spectre had been revealed to be familiar with each other. But it was more than that. More even than the promise of strange new technologies and races. There, on the edge of her perception was an inkling that the entire Galaxy had just shifted around that little world outside the window.

Finally she pushed away from the railing and exited the observation lounge herself, ominous feelings aside, she was required at the briefing. She just hoped that her feeling of unease was unfounded.

* * *

 **"Shanxi" (AKA Armiger One)**

 **Derelict Orbital Defence Station**

 **Designation: Watchman Station**

Amidst the long abandoned and neglected ruins of Watchman Station, there is a single room which had been restored to its formerly pristine condition. A single room, with a small backup generator and power hard-lines to the few remaining intact solar panels on the station's exterior. Providing power to the room's sole inhabitant.

Trussed up in such a way as to appear one with the structure around it was a single Adjutant, a simple artificial intelligence construct, designated simply as 35-87 V5.231A, lay in waiting.

The AI, waited patiently, standing watch over the station, which for now had yet to be reclaimed properly by its creators. Tending to what programming maintenance it could and watching the space nearby with what intact scopes remained aboard the damaged structure.

It was fortunate for the simple AI that it was in fact 'simple' as a more complex lifeform would undoubtedly have been bored out of its mind with so little to do.

Adjutant 35-87 V5.231 A, was therefore not particularly excited or even interested beyond what its role required of it when it detected a burst of dark energy nearby and a small craft appeared for the second time in a week. The first time, this craft, which was likely the same vessel as the one now closer to the station, had been distant enough that the station's damaged scopes could not pick up significant details about the craft. It was not a recognized starship profile, military or otherwise, and thus had largely been ignored save for a notation in the records.

The vessel had left, and with its departure it had also faded from the simple intelligence's consciousness.

The vessel's second appearance was much more 'troubling' to the AI. The vessel was closer now. The script which could be read in places on its hull unfamiliar to any lexicon in the AI's database. In accordance with its programming this evidence caused the strange ship to be labeled as a 'UFO of Non-human Construction'. Thus it was categorized as alien.

Elevating its alert status to three the AI observed as a number of smaller craft eventually broke away from the larger ship and began an unauthorized approach to the station. In times past this would have required a communications challenge to be issued by the station's crew and the weapons systems being activated to drive off a potential invader.

There were no weapons left, and no crew either. Thus, in accordance with its mission to keep watch over this system, Adjutant 35-87 V5.231 uploaded all available data from its sensor feeds as well as its hypothesis as to the vehicle's origins and then fired it off in an encrypted data burst to the nearest FTL communications hub, for the attention of its creators.

Then, also in keeping with its programming and emergency protocols, the Adjutant dutifully noted that the almost certainly alien vessel was a danger to operational security and that it could not be allowed to fall into the hands of an unknown species.

Thus to prevent any potentially valuable data or indeed even information pertaining to its own point of origin and construction, the AI dutifully activated its self-destruct protocol. Frying its own hardware and erasing its software with a highly potent EMP burst. Then, as the now defunct AI's shell hung limply in its cradle the secondary protocol activated and an aperture overhead opened and dumped several hundred pounds of ignited thermite all over its chassis, effectively erasing all evidence of its existence.

The thermite was long since entirely consumed and the station's tortured venting systems had vented the smoke and ash before those small craft had even reached the one of the station's intact hangars.

A somewhat sad, and disquieting end to an admittedly simple creature. However its actions set in motion a chain of events which would shake the stars. Its creators should have been proud.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope you enjoyed that. Please review and comment!


	5. BSG Idea

**Author's Note:** So here this, I've been considering doing a BSG fic for a while. Was even considering doing a crossover, but ultimately decided against it. Beta work by Q Elwyn D and Volksbrot. I really hope this fic idea appeals to you guys (and girls).

* * *

 **President's Tower**

 **Caprica City, Caprica**

 **The Twelve Colonies**

President of the Twelve Colonies, Richard Adar's hand shook slightly as he took a sip from his glass of ambrosia before setting it down on his desk. Pausing a moment later to clench his hand tightly in an effort to steady it once more. He offered a rueful look at his advisor, one Admiral Alice Nagala, where she reclined on one of the couches across from him, sipping her own drink.

"I apologize Admiral, it is rather a lot to take in, and those…pictures didn't help my nerves any," he confessed indicating the images spread out across the table in front of her. They were a gruesome affair displaying a naked man who'd been shot repeatedly before expiring. Someone had a grudge, not that President Adar had any sympathy to spare for the man in question.

"It seems, and I confess I am no expert in such things, that someone disliked our traitor a great deal," He said after he'd taken a moment to steady his breathing. "And forgive me for saying so Admiral, but I have trouble believing a centurion would go through the trouble of executing him in such a…lurid fashion."

Alice Nagala grimaced and nodded. "Our investigative specialists all agree that it was unlikely to have been a centurion, not the least because it is very hard for one to conceivably disappear long term on one of the colonies." She took another sip. "No, we have reason to believe this was something else."

He grimaced, "More gods damned sympathizers? Perhaps some holdout Army of the One fanatics?" Richard speculated, only to receive a shake of the head.

Alice stared at him hard now, her steel grey eyes locking on his own blue ones. "No, our investigators found DNA evidence in his bed, evidence of…sexual contributions. The DNA showed signs of being heavily modified, bearing all the hallmarks of advanced genetic tailoring and cloning."

She leaned forward, tapping a finger on one of the pictures of the slain man, "Giaus Baltar, was sleeping with an artificial human being. What we now strongly believe to be some form of biological infiltrator unit," she explained.

Richard stared at her in horror for a good minute before he shook his head and swore strongly. "Frak me, really Admiral? We have to worry about the Cylons masquerading as one of our own now?" He asked rhetorically, before snatching up the glass again and swigging down the last of it when she nodded. "How hard are these infiltrators to detect?"

Alice grimaced, "If the security footage from his own home is anything to go by, the infiltrator we believe may have been responsible was easily mistaken for human, their mannerisms, at least visually speaking, appeared perfect. Their DNA and other biological indicators are a different matter altogether though."

He looked to her hopefully. "It took a bit to realize what we had at first, but after a lot of analysis, and with something to now compare it against it should be easy enough to tell when a person is really a Cylon. We do have one potential…issue that has cropped up, which is concerning our think tanks." He gestured for her to go ahead, topping up his glass again.

"What if there are infiltrator units which aren't aware they were created by the Cylons?" She asked, and he blinked before looking disturbed. "As much as it…disgusts me to admit it, these infiltrators, so far as we can tell, no matter their artificial origins, appear to fall well within the typical standard deviations for our definition of 'human'." Alice explained. "Which begs the question, what do we do with a Cylon infiltrator, a sleeper, who believes with every fibre of their being that they are human?"

Richard shuddered, "Tell me if you have an answer for that question, I'm afraid I have none to give you," he admitted looking troubled. Finally he glanced up at her again. "How bad could it have been Admiral? Tell me honestly."

Nagala finished off her glass and sat up a little straighter. "If that hacker hadn't alerted the authorities to what they'd found while fooling around in the CNP*? The Cylons would have had access via a backdoor to everything, Mister President. Battlestars command and control systems, fighter's navigational software, the plans for our next generation of equipment, our ground side nuclear arsenal, everything. They could have breezed past our defences unopposed and wiped us out without a single shot being fired before the bombs started raining down. Assuming they didn't just turn our own nuclear arsenal against us."

Richard has paled drastically throughout her explanation. "F-frak, I mean…Frak Alice. How sure are we that we closed the breach? They can't use that backdoor you were telling me about anymore, right?"

"We've closed it and upgraded firewalls are being distributed to every ship in the fleet by special courier or hard encrypted transmission, new codes of course. Our experts have done a number of scans since then to make sure the Cylons didn't already have a foothold in the system. As of right now, we believe we are safe. At least in regards to that threat. However, now we know that the Cylons are preparing for war."

He nodded soberly. "What are our projections on that Admiral? Are we ready for it?" The Admiral looked to him sharply, and he raised his hands to stave off any objections. "Don't worry Admiral, even after this I'm not looking to get into a fight against the Cylons. Lords know how bloody the last war was, we don't need to be looking for another one," he soothed. "I do however want to know what the estimates are like if the Cylons come at us straight on."

The Admiral eased somewhat before grimacing, "The predictions vary wildly, it depends heavily on how much time and resources they put into building a home for themselves out there. If they spent this entire time gearing up for another war? They're going to outnumber us badly."

Richard winced, "And if they did spend time building a home for themselves?"

The Admiral shrugged, "The answer could be anywhere between what they had when they left and hundreds of Basestars."

He sighed, drawing a hand back tiredly over his balding pate. "So, I guess that really leaves us with just one question," he mused, before looking to her once more. "What do we do now?"

She looked the President square in the eye now, "Now? Now we get what we need to win the war that's coming. By any means necessary."

He stared at her quietly for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, what did you have in mind?"

* * *

 **Picon Fleet Headquarters**

 **Picon Orbit**

 **The Twelve Colonies**

Commander Kassandra Winters stood, idly tapping her data-tablet against the outside of her thigh as she waited for the shuttle she was aboard to be towed into the auxiliary hangar bay of the fleet yards.

She was trying to contain her nerves. She wasn't certain _why_ she was being transferred away from her command, along with all of her kit. Until recently she had been in command of the _Freyja_ , a Valkyrie-class Battlestar.

She could make guesses however. She'd seen some of the ships in port today, the most notable ship present was the Battlestar _Pegasus_. She strongly suspected that her transfer had little to do with that ship however. She had no association to speak of with its commanding officer, Rear Admiral Helena Cain, and the woman was notorious for the way she handled what crew was allowed to set foot on _her_ ship.

No she suspected, though it was far from certain, that her transfer had something to do with the other Battlestar currently in port…A slight jerk went through the shuttle as it came to a stop on the hangar deck and drew her from her ruminations.

One of the marines on guard at the door checked out the viewport, before nodding to someone outside. He then stepped back and tapped something on the door console, allowing the hatch to swing open before lowering a set of steps onto the deck.

With that task completed he stepped aside and snapped her a salute. "Commander, we'll handle your luggage in accordance with orders from command, good luck."

She returned the salute and stepped out of the shuttle onto the hangar bay floor.

"Commander on deck!" Shouted one of the nearby deck hands, as he braced to attention along with several others nearby.

She nodded to them, "As you were," she said, allowing them to relax and return to their work wrestling equipment and fuel lines into place.

Kassandra then too a moment to look around and get her bearings. A hangar such as this aboard a space station or Battlestar was always a busy place. However, in the wake of the close call with the CNP incident the level of activity had jumped up by several orders of magnitude.

Aside from the shuttle behind her, there were large numbers of vipers and raptors being towed about the massive space, not to mention the further dozens of fighters hot-stacked in their racks along the hangar walls. Crew and pilots hurrying this way and that across the deck around her as they all went about their appointed tasks.

As she'd been told to expect, after a few moments an officer detached himself from the crowd and saluted her. "Commander Winters? Lieutenant Markland, I'm here to escort you to the Admiral's Offices. If you will follow me."

It wasn't really a question or request she noticed, so she simply nodded, returning the salute quickly. "Lead the way Lieutenant."

He led her over to a waiting service cart which had been fit with numerous passenger seats. Once aboard they hitched a ride along the hangar bay and over down a large service bay before coming to a stop near one of the countless access hatches between sections. After disembarking the small vehicle they climbed the ladder up to the hatch.

From there it was a labyrinthian tour through the depths of the station over to one of the tram hubs. All in all it took close to twenty minutes to navigate their way through the station up to the Admiral's offices.

It was here that they came to another checkpoint. The Lieutenant stopped and turned towards her. "This is where I leave you for now Commander. I'll be waiting here for you after your meeting is complete."

"Thank you. I'll see you in a bit then Lieutenant," she said, before nodding and stepping up to the checkpoint.

"Palm print and password please, then please submit for identity confirmation," The marine on duty instructed stoically.

Kassandra pressed her palm onto the scanner pad and waited as it ran several bands of light over her palm.

The scanner paused a moment, before flashing green and she stepped over to a microphone indicated by the marine. "Name, code phrase and confirmation code."

She pressed the button, activating the microphone. "Commander Kassandra Winters. Current code phrase: Highlander. Confirmation code: 5-8-7-2-8-3-1 Alpha."

The machine processed all of that before trilling a positive tone, causing the marine to nod. "Good, now, we just need a DNA sample. Increased security, you understand. Spit?" He proffered a swab to her.

Well, this was new. Still, she wasn't about to complain. She took the swab from him and ran it over the inside of her mouth before coating the tip in spit and handing it to a tech who stepped forward to collect it.

The tech took it, immediately inserting it into a machine on the far side of the checkpoint. It hummed loudly for a minute as it worked before it blurted out an oddly negative sound, nevertheless the tech gave the marine a thumbs up and he stepped aside. "You're clear. You'll have to check your weapon with my companion over there, then you can go on in."

Kassandra stepped through a scanner arch, which didn't raise any alarm at her passage before stepping over to another marine and handing him her side arm. Only then did she make her way along the passage into the waiting room beyond.

Becoming an Admiral had many perks, sadly none of them included luxurious waiting rooms for the various people coming to see you on a daily basis. This waiting room was virtually identical to any waiting room in the Colonial Military. Save perhaps for the large window which looked out across the dockyards.

It was by this window, that Commander Winters spotted a familiar figure. She smiled, nodding briefly to the administrative aide tending a desk by door to the Admiral's office, before walking over to him. She still had a few minutes until her meeting after all. What could it hurt to speak with an old friend?

"Husker, it's been some time, you're looking well," She greeted.

The man gave a small start before turning from the viewport to stare at her for a moment, before smiling. "Oracle. Been a while," Commander William Adama greeted, shaking her hand.

"That it has," she agreed. "What you doing here? Valkyrie in port today?" She hadn't seen the Valkyrie on her way in, but then again she hadn't seen the majority of the yards from her window aboard the shuttle.

He smiled thinly in amusement, "No actually, been off the Valkyrie for a few months now."

She blinked, "I hadn't heard that."

He nodded seriously, "Was assigned to the Galactica actually, supposed to oversee her decommissioning. Last posting before retiring. Well—before this whole mess with the Cylons and the CNP blew up. Who knows what they're going to do with her now?" He nodded to the massive grey bulk of the warship in question on the far end of the docks.

Kassandra understood now, "Ah, didn't know you were retiring."

He snorted in amusement. "Been years since I was CAG aboard the Universal, Oracle."

That was true, she had to admit. Universal had been her second posting, acting as a viper pilot with only one other ship under her belt after flight school. William 'Bill' Adama had been her CAG during that posting. That had been nearly twenty years ago now…

"So, you have a meeting with Admiral Nagala too hm?" She said, redirecting the conversation a little.

He nodded, "Yeah, arrived a bit early though, don't expect to go in for another hour yet." She hummed acknowledgement, before he cocked an eyebrow at her. "I could ask you the same thing actually. Last I heard you were aboard the Freyja, but she's not in port today, you getting transferred?"

Kassandra nodded, "Sounds like it, I—"

Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by the hatch to the Admiral's office banging open and an officer storming out. It took a moment, as the woman was in a hurry, but Kassandra quickly recognized Rear Admiral Cain as she stalked out of the room without acknowledging them. The Rear Admiral did not look pleased in the slightest.

The administrative assistant sighed before standing and striding over to the still ajar doorway before sticking their head inside. Kassandra couldn't make out what was being said, as it was somewhat muffled by distance and the door which was being held open by the aide. Finally the man stepped back and nodded to her, "The Admiral will see you now, Commander Winters."

Adama smiled thinly at her, inclining his head at her. "Good luck Oracle."

She nodded back before walking to the door and stepping through with a quick nod of acknowledgement to the aide before closing the door behind her.

Admiral Alice Nagala's office was…nice. It was much more richly decorated than the waiting room, whilst still remaining tasteful. Lots of polished wood and naval brass. Alice Nagala, the office's primary inhabitant, was a decorated war hero. She'd served as the Commander of the Battlestar _Atlantia_ during the first Cylon war. She'd led the ship to dozens of victories against the Cylons.

Her career stood in stark contrast to the woman who had just left her office. Which said something about the up and coming Admirals of this generation. Cain had politicked her way to the top, never having seen actual combat outside a simulator. Where Cain was the ruthless and eager war hawk, Nagala was the wise old veteran who had no desire to see more war.

The woman in question stood up, brushing a bit of her short white hair behind her ear before moving to greet her, smiling. "Ah, Kassandra. Good to see you again. Please, come have a seat."

She did as instructed, pausing only briefly to shake the Admiral's hand before seating herself across the desk from her.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice. I know it must have been a shock to learn you were being transferred off the Freyja," Nagala said a touch apologetically.

Kassandra shrugged. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

The Admiral nodded before pacing over to the cabinet behind her desk. "Ambrosia?"

Kassandra shook her head. "No, thank you Admiral."

Nagala shot her a chiding look. "We've known each other for years Kass, you can call me Alice."

She nodded in return. "Alright, Alice."

The Admiral smiled benignly, pouring herself a small drink. "I hope you don't mind if I partake, given who I just had to deal with?"

Kassandra smirked, shaking her head, Nagala was a blunt one at times. Seldom one to withhold her opinion. The Admiral sat herself with her drink behind her desk. "So, I imagine you are wondering why you're here?" The Admiral said rhetorically, taking a sip of her drink.

"It had crossed my mind," Commander Winters said patiently.

The Admiral snorted in amusement, "You've done a wonderful job with the Freyja Kassandra. Truly."

She then sighed, "But we've got something a bit more important going on and we could use a good officer to lead it." She paused for a moment here. "What do you know about the CNP incident, Kassandra?"

Kassandra shrugged. "Not much, just what was in the general alert sent with the security patch."

Nagala nodded thoughtfully, "I remember the notice in question. Fairly gave me a heart attack when I heard it. It got all the general points right, but provided none of the details," The Admiral mused, then huffed a sigh. "Long story short? The Cylons got one Gaius Baltar, the so called _genius_ behind the CNP and a number of other upgrades the fleet recently received. We're having those upgrades checked just in case."

Kassandra blinked at that revelation, she'd heard quite a bit about Baltar over the years. A tech magnate and certified genius, he was in the news frequently. "How did they manage that?"

The Admiral grimaced, as though the ambrosia in her cup had gone bad, leaving a foul taste in her mouth. "None of this goes beyond this room, understood?" She said crooking a finger at her.

She nodded dutifully.

"The Cylons have developed infiltration units," The Admiral stated plainly. Kassandra felt like she'd just taken a blow to the gut. The Admiral pressed on regardless. "Clones with genetic enhancements. Unfortunately we don't know any more than that. We have a bit of security cam footage from his property, but he had so many… _visitors_ , coming and going there's no way to know who it was."

The Admiral grimaced again, "We're in the process of working out methods to spot them, but instituting the tests across the colonies is going to be problematic."

Kassandra made a face, suddenly wishing she'd taken the Admiral up on her offer of a drink. "I can imagine."

"When I briefed the President on the situation. He had a very important question to ask me. Could we win a war against the Cylons?" Nagala said stoically. "And honestly, I couldn't tell him for sure that we could."

She began ticking matters off on her fingers. "There are a few key issues we're trying to address. Funds and supplies, personnel, ships, tylium and allies." Nagala frowned again, "The supplies, personnel and funding are easy enough now that the public is aware of the threat. Plenty of people are joining up now and we've got clearance to construct additional ships."

Kassandra nodded, "Let me guess, it's the last two that are going to be the issue."

The Admiral nodded. "It's not widely known, but the Colonies' supply of tylium is drying up faster than anticipated. Few new deposits have been found and none of significant size in over two decades. Considering the rate at which FTL capable vessels eat through tylium we need more if we're to engage in a protracted war," She waved a hand irritably as though to ward off annoying insects. "Oh, we're doing what we can to moderate the issue, research into more efficient drives, fewer unnecessary jumps…searches for new deposits in the asteroid belts."

Kassandra quirked an eyebrow at her superior. "And allies? I can't imagine that you can find us many of those…"

Nagala paused, giving her an unreadable look for a moment, "Maybe, maybe not," She said cryptically. "There are none to be had in the colonies, unless you count drumming up more civilian support. But there may be others, sympathetic to our cause outside the Colonies."

Commander Winters blinked. "What?"

Nagala smiled sympathetically, then sighed. "The Thirteenth Colony, or any number of list minor colonist groups which may not have been recorded in the scrolls. _Hades_ , we don't know for certain that all of us left Kobol. The scrolls said that those who remained would die. We have no reason to doubt their veracity in this, but we also have no reason to doubt the veracity of the claim that there were other colonists. It is possible there may yet be further human life out there."

Kassandra thought quickly on everything she'd been told, and suddenly it all clicked. "You want to go looking for them."

It wasn't really a question, and Nagala nodded agreement. "I do, and I want you to lead the expedition."

The Commander froze for a moment as that struck home. A million questions rushed through her head, but only one really stuck. "Why me? I mean, you must have hundreds of more qualified officers. Why me?"

Nagala sighed, "Actually, our qualified officer pool is smaller than you might think. As for why you? A number of reasons really," The Admiral admitted with a shrug.

"First, you are relatively young, charismatic, honest and decorated. A good choice for leadership positions," Nagala explained. "Second, you're not currently occupying a critical position in our ongoing and upcoming missions. Thus you are available when others are not."

She shrugged, taking another sip of her drink. "Third, you're not one of Cain or Corman's bunch and therefore are less likely to deviate from mission on her say so, or because you got it into your head to be a hero and kill some toaster who happened to be in the neighbourhood. Also? Politics."

Kassandra winced, politics had been the death knell of many a career. Nagala saw her expression and nodded, grimacing. "You're from a good naval family, you have a daughter in the service and a good record, that will play well with the public when this breaks. Also, you're on the short list for a number of upcoming positions. Positions the likes of Cain and Corman would prefer filled by one of theirs. I have a lot of power, but not enough to stop them should it come down to it and they decide to wreck your career simply because you're not one of theirs."

Nagala raised a hand to stall any objections, "This position _is_ important, and it'll get you promoted sooner, just not into any position they're currently after."

Commander Winters blew out a gusty breath, raking a hand back through her hair. Who knew that doing your job well would make you enemies with people you'd never even spoken to?

"There is one final thing. Should we find the Thirteenth Colony, we want a sympathetic face for them to meet. Not some slavering war hawk like Cain, not some fanatic like Corman or any of his lackeys. Someone who might be able to convince them that we're by and large reasonable, honest people, who they can work with."

Kassandra frowned. "You want me to play diplomat?"

Nagala shook her head. "No, mostly we want you to be the combination of an Explorer and an Admiral. You'll be getting that promotion right away if you accept this mission by the way."

She blinked at that assertion. A promotion to Admiral so soon?

"You'd be leaving most of the diplomatic stuff to the specialists and actual negotiators sent by the Quorum and the President."

Kassandra considered, "Do I get any say in who's part of my crew? How many ships would I be taking?"

Nagala sighed again, "You'd get _some_ say. Not as much as I'd like though. Hades, you'd get most of the say on crew I suppose, but there area few people you don't get a veto on. And we'd be deciding how large the fleet is."

Winters nodded slowly. "Who, and how many?"

The Admiral shrugged. "We'd fill any position you don't have a preference for with our own. Otherwise? The civilian contingent, led by former secretary of education Laura Roslin."

"A school teacher?" Kassandra asked a touch skeptically.

Nagala smiled sympathetically, "She had a falling out of some kind with Adar, also, who better to wrangle a bunch of intellectual types?"

Kassandra had to concede the point.

"We'd also dictate the Chief Scientists who'd be helping you through your journey. Seviticus Adan the chief anthropologist. Armando Feretti, chief linguist a priest or two…and Maria Adar, daughter of Richard Adar, chief physicist and general head of the science team."

The commander's eyebrows rose sharply at that last one. "The President's own daughter would be going with us? Is she any good?"

The Admiral snorted in amusement, "One of the best actually. She would be going as a political move on her father's part, but she is honestly intrigued by the mission."

She refilled her cup of ambrosia before putting the bottle away. "There are a few others of note we'd have to insist on…" Kassandra didn't like the cautious look on the Admiral's face. "A certain tech specialist and the former first officer of the Pegasus."

Kassandra didn't know anything about the first, the second however…"Jurgen Belzen?"

Nagala nodded, "That's the one."

Her subordinate snorted in wry amusement, "I think I know why Cain stormed her way out of here looking like she could spit fire."

Nagala shook her head, "Actually it was losing the tech specialist which did that. She was the Admiral's main squeeze until recently."

The commander blinked, she hadn't realized that Cain swung that way. Then shook it off, deciding that detail was irrelevant. "Any more?"

Nagala was looking uncomfortable again. "Just one. A promising young Major who we want to be one of your CAGs."

Kassandra had a good idea who they were talking about, and had a sneaking suspicion nothing she could say would talk them out of it. "Cassie, I assume? Political reasons too?"

Cassiopeia Winters, was her daughter. In keeping with the traditions of her people and dynasty Kassandra had surrendered her daughter to her own mother for raising. Just as her mother had done with her when she was a child. She knew Cassie well, loved her and wished the world for her, but in all honesty she hardly knew her.

Nagala nodded solemnly. "Yes, it'll play well that both. You and your daughter are on this mission."

She sighed, "I can't imagine Cassie's going to be happy about it."

Nagala smirked. "Actually, she took it rather well. She doesn't blame you, she's more pissed at the public relations people who insist on it."

Kassandra nodded, suddenly feeling a little nervous, knowing she'd be required to work with her daughter in this capacity. "Very well, but I get to specify the rest correct?"

Nagala shrugged. "Within reason, yes. Why? Do you have any in mind?"

Her thoughts immediately jumped to her XO back on the Freyja, only to divert at the last moment. Fixating on a lonely figure standing by the window in the other room…

He'd be an excellent XO. The man would have made Admiral long ago had he not offended the sensibilities of so many of his superiors in various ways.

She cocked her head curiously at her superior, wondering if the Admiral had intended this when she'd called them both here. "You have Bill Adama waiting outside…what do you plan to do with him?"

Nagala blinked in apparent surprise, though Kassandra wasn't sure she trusted that impression. Finally the Admiral gave her a shrewd look. "You know he's on his way out don't you? He's stepped on a few too many toes getting where he is."

Kassandra nodded. "I also know he's a damned fine officer, someone who has actual experience fighting Cylons, unlike many of the officers these days and he's an honourable warrior." That last part was important to someone of her lineage and cultural background.

Nagala nodded stoically, then surprised her with a smile. "You won't make many friends with the other Admirals by protecting him. Corman in particular wants him gone. Hm…yes, that might do nicely actually. He might be able to pick a few good ones from the Valkyrie or Galactica for you as well…"

She paused musing, before smiling again. "Why don't we hear what he thinks of the idea?" Nagala suggested, pushing to her feet and making her way to the hatch which she pulled open.

"Husker, come in here, we need to have a little talk," Nagala called.

A moment or two later she stepped back and Adama stepped inside, looking a bit surprised. Kassandra stood to meet him, shaking his hand again. "Husker…Bill," Nagala corrected after a moment, "Allow me to introduce you to the Colonial Fleet's newest Admiral."

Adama blinked before smiling, "Damn, good work Oracle. You'll make an excellent Admiral."

Nagala smiled ruefully, "We'll glad to hear you agree Bill, but we didn't just bring you in here to congratulate her."

Adama looked surprised and looked between the two cautiously. Kassandra decided not to keep him in suspense. "I'm in need of an XO for my new posting. It's a big one and I could use someone I trust."

He stared at her a moment, before letting out a gusty sigh, shaking his head. "I presume you told her that I'm on my way out?"

Nagala nodded, before favouring him with a roguish grin. "I did, but she didn't seem to care."

He looked back to Kassandra. "What's the op?"

Nagala was the one to answer however, "The op, should you accept it, is to take an Expeditionary Fleet out in search of tylium and the Thirteenth Colony."

He blinked then, chuckled shaking his head again. "Really Alice, the Thirteenth? What, are the politician's taking the piss again?"

Nagala smirked, "I suppose if anyone is taking the piss, it's me this time Bill. The op was my idea. I wish it weren't so, but we're up against a foe we have next to no intel on." She raised a hand to stall any further comment from him. "I'm not blaming you Bill, I'm not bringing _that_ up again, don't worry."

Kassandra wondered what they were talking about, but didn't feel it was right to push. Nagala pressed on, "I'm just stating the facts. We have no idea of the disposition of our enemy, and with the CNP debacle, the Cylons are certainly still that."

Adama nodded, gnawing the inside of his cheek as he considered the situation, "A scouting mission then?"

Nagala shrugged, then nodded. "In force yes, though it'll become a diplomatic mission if you actually meet the Thirteeners out there."

Kassandra saw his expression and couldn't help but laugh a little. "That'll be handled by the civies Bill, you won't be doing much of the political glad handing."

He looked relieved, then thoughtful. "How many ships?"

She looked to the Admiral as well. She'd never received a reply on that. "Eleven modified civilian craft, mostly industrial types of one sort or another. Also, thirty two military ships, though most of them are gunboats and gunstars. Though there are a few assaultstars, escorts, tenders, ECM ships and such as well—don't worry, I'll get you a full accounting of them," Nagala promised. "The fleet will be led by the Hades though. Not the old one, she's about to go through the same refits as Galactica. You'll be getting the new Mercury class, full wartime loadout for the entire fleet."

Kassandra couldn't help the appreciative whistle which escaped her lips at that. A wartime loadout was no joke. Especially for the Hades, the most powerful ship in the lot. Most Colonial warships, even those which patrolled the Colonial side of the Cylon border, didn't get wartime loadouts these days.

It meant a full load of guns, missiles and armour. It meant a full complement of fighters, shuttles and gunships. It meant a full complement of Marines with heavy weapons. It _also_ meant that Admiral Nagala suspected they might get into trouble out there in the unknown and need a fighting chance.

She looked to Adama who was also looking impressed. "We want this mission to succeed, and more than that we want you to bring as many of our boys and girls home with you as you can."

Kassandra nodded. "What do you say Husker?" She asked turning to her companion. "You with me on this?"

He considered, then nodded slowly. "I still think searching for the Thirteenth is a fool's errand, but…at the very least this will make sure we have an actual idea what's out there. I'm in."

Nagala seemed unoffended by his characterization of that portion of the mission, so Kassandra continued on. "I presume you intend to bring Saul Tigh along with you?"

Adama chuckled, "Yes, yes I do. Cantankerous old cuss needs a minder, and he's not half bad at wrangling marines either."

Kassandra nodded, then frowned. Thinking of Adama's old friend. "Think you can curb his drinking habit?" She asked, suddenly very serious.

Husker had noticed it, and sighed, nodding stoically. "For you, he just might do it if I ask nicely."

She was surprised to hear Tigh apparently thought that highly of her. "Well, give it your best shot. I'm willing to give a lot of leeway to a veteran who's proven himself, but even I can only stretch so far."

Adama just nodded, "I'll get it done."

She smiled at him, letting him know the awkward part of the conversation was over. "Good, anything else we need to talk about Admiral?" She asked.

Nagala grimaced, and nodded. "We'd better tell Bill about the Cylon issue, as it pertains to Baltar I mean."

Kassandra winced, but nodded. They spent the next few minutes explaining the issue to Adama. He swore harshly when they had finished. "Damn it, we knew they were messing about with things they shouldn't after Djerba. How did we not guess they'd try this?"

Nagala winced and Kassandra couldn't help her curiosity this time, "Djerba? Isn't that a resort world?" She asked.

The Admiral shook her head. "During a mission in the last war, our friend Bill here crash landed on Djerba. And you're right, it _was_ a winter resort world once upon a time. Not any more. The planet was marked as forbidden on all Colonial charts after what we—you, discovered there," She admitted directing that last part at Adama.

He grimaced, "The Cylons were experimenting with cybernetically enhanced organics. Animals mostly, enormous snakes and the like near as I could tell, but humans as well…I couldn't get them out."

Kassandra winced in sympathy, she couldn't imagine being in that situation. "Damn."

Nagala nodded, "Perhaps we _should_ have guessed they'd try this eventually, but we never saw any further evidence of those sorts of experiments after that mission. We thought they'd given it up."

"Guess not," Adama muttered.

"There is one other matter in regards to these…infiltrators. I brought it up with the president. But it may become relevant to you too if you find one amongst your fleet…"

Kassandra stiffened considering that possibility. Could they even screen that many people? There had to be tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people in the fleet they were proposing.

"Our think tanks pointed out the possibility of sleep agents. Cylon infiltrators who honestly believe they are human and will behave as such until activated. If you find such an infiltrator my orders are to capture them if possible. We might be able to reason with one of them," Nagala stated clearly.

A little hesitantly at first, but then more firmly, Kassandra and Bill both nodded. "Yes Admiral," they both chorused.

The Admiral nodded, satisfied. "Good, then let me get together my files on the mission so I can brief you both in properly."

Kassandra settled in for a long discussion as Adama took the seat beside her. This was likely to take a while.

* * *

 **Cylon Council Chamber**

 **Cylon Colony**

 **Cylon Space**

Well, that was a royal frak up, good job Three," Snarled the representative for the Fifth line of Cylons.

Three bristled at his tone, "Me? I'm the one who cleaned up Six's mess! It wasn't me who allowed some random hacker to discover the backdoor to the CNP!"

Six, who had been silently fuming up to this point, snapped. "You killed Gaius! That wasn't necessary!"

Three rolled her eyes, "Is that Six I hear speaking, or Caprica? You indulged her little crush for too long Six. Besides, she should be thanking us, he tried to get into our pants before he was killed."

Six just continued to glare.

"Enough," Sighed four, looking exasperated. Thankfully the others settled back down at his quiet remonstration. For the most part Number Four was amongst the more reasonable Cylon models.

"Four's right, casting blame gets us nowhere, we need to figure out what to do next," Eight said quietly.

One rolled his eyes, he'd always had a strong dislike for those who insisted on playing peacemaker. "Despite Six's astounding show of ineptitude—" he began, sneering at Six who bristled at his tone. "Nothing has changed…the plan is still salvageable, it just won't be possible without taking casualties ourselves."

The others waited impatiently for him to get to the point. "If we strike now, and instruct the basestars to focus fire on the Colonies themselves… Well, without their worlds the Colonial Fleet will die just as surely as if we'd killed them using the CNP backdoor.

Two was already shaking his head though, "We'd take heavy casualties, not all would upload to the resurrection ships safely. and while there would be a delay before the Colonial Fleet starved they'd be searching for us…"

Eight and Four nodded agreement, "He's right they could find the colony and strike here," Eight noted.

"Which is to say nothing of those we'd lose to the fleet simply attempting to make such a strike," Four said, tiredly.

"One sighed gustily, rolling his eyes, before bringing a fist down to smack noisily against the console in front of him. "We'll take casualties no matter what we do now. We need to strike now before they begin preparations for a full scale war!" He ranted, "The Colonials need to die! They will always hold the last war against us. They can't help it, it's in their nature! It is therefore God's will that the created destroy the creators so that they— _we_ —might live!"

Three snorted derisively, "God's will? Don't try to pull that nonsense One. You're an atheist. You no more believe in God than you believe in the Lords of Kobol."

He grimaced, hating that she was pointing out his manipulation so boldly. However, he had no way of refuting that claim. He had to settle for staring venomously at her.

"Let's put it to a vote. I vote in favour of pressing the attack now," Five said, straightening his jacket idly.

Three rolled her eyes, "No surprise there, you've always been One's little toady." She shrugged when he glared at her, "I vote against the attack. We need to rethink things."

"I concur," Murmured Two. "I vote against."

They looked to Four who shook his head, "Against."

All eyes turned to Six, who stood chewing her Lip thoughtfully. "Against. We've lost the advantage."

One sneered, "Always the cautious one Six. I suppose you advocate more infiltration work?"

She scowled at him, but nodded grudgingly.

All eyes then fell on Eight. "Against, We need a new plan of attack. At the very least we need to consider our tactical and strategic capabilities, most of the Basestars were optimized with the CNP plan in mind."

One growled, turning and stalking from the room angrily. Five followed a few moments later at a more sedate pace.

The other shook their heads. "Such a child," Six grumbled before cocking her head at Eight, "You say our Basestars were optimized for the CNP plan, how so? I admit warship design is not one of my line's strong points."

Eight sighed, though not like she was annoyed with Six. "The current basestar model. You know the double-triple spoke arrangement we've produced hundreds of? It's a dedicated carrier/bombardment platform. They have negligible point defence capabilities, kinetic weapons and armour. They weren't intended for long drawn out battles."

The others gaped at her, "Then our situation is more dire than we realized," Four said eventually.

Eight shrugged. "Yes and no. The remaining older generation basestars are still formidable, so we'd not be defenceless, and the carriers _are_ a powerful force multiplier in the right circumstances. We still need more frontline warships though if we are to attempt taking the Colonials head on. Might not be a bad idea to refit the current basestars as possible."

Six paused, and the others looked to her as her eyes went vacant, a sign of a request from her line for communication. "A moment please," She muttered before crossing to one of the luminous data streams and inserting her hand into it.

After a few moments she began to speak, "There has been a development. One of my models, Gina Inviere has been transferred from her position aboard the Pegasus. She arranged for this message to reach one of our deep space comm arrays."

"So?" Three said, impatiently.

"She has heard from Helena Cain, that the Colonials are putting together an Expeditionary Fleet," Six explained.

The other Cylons paled. "They're coming after us then?" Four asked to clarify.

Six shook her head, "No, not yet. Cain apparently feels the politicians and Quorum lack the will to instigate a war. She, Cain, it should be noted, is all for another fight. Apparently they intend to search for the Thirteenth Colony and possible resources their fleet can make use of."

The others looked speculative at that revelation, each moving to their own data feeds and integrating with it. Silence reigned in the council chamber for a minute or two. "What should we do about this?" Four eventually asked.

They look to each other, "One and Five are not here…" Two noted.

Three snorted, "They left before the Council was finished. They forfeited their rights to a say in any further votes."

"Such is our way, yes," Four agreed.

Three huffed, "I've ordered the Centurions and members of my line to keep an eye on those two lines. Who knows what One will do if he has a mind to push the issue?"

The other grimaced, recognizing the truth of that. "My line will watch them as well," Four offered.

"As will mine," Eight stated grim faced.

The remaining Cylons nodded. "Very well, back to the matter at hand. What do we do about the Expeditionary Fleet?"

They looked at each other for a while before Six stepped back up to her console. "My line already has a member amongst the Fleet…" She ventured.

Three nodded thoughtfully, "We can't risk there being more than one per line amongst them…lest they be discovered. The Colonials will already be on high alert."

"Agreed," Murmured Four. "I suggest we get one from each of the lines here to attempt to infiltrate the Fleet. Otherwise, we can perhaps have a Stealth unit tail them with a response group of Basestars on hand. Just in case they venture towards one of our holdings."

The others looked at each other, "Any further suggestions?" Asked Two.

One by one they all indicated that they had no further suggestions on the matter.

"Very well. A vote then. Two matters, further infiltration and a tailing force," Three said, setting the field for any decision they might make.

Again eyes fell on Two first, "I'm in favour of both."

They looked then to Three. "I concur, both."

Four nodded, "Both."

Six, "I agree, both are necessary."

And finally they stared at Eight. She smirked. "Not that it matters considering the clear majority, but I support both as well."

Three snorted in amusement, "There, wasn't that easy? Things are so much more simple without One's histrionics don't you find?"

General agreement met that statement, and Four took up the torch again, "Very well, are there any further matters for this session?"

They all shook their heads, one after another. "Not without a full council…" Eight hedged.

They cocked their heads at her curiously. "We need to discuss the particulars of constructing more frontline warships."

Four hummed agreement as the other nodded, "Then this session of the Cylon Council is adjourned."

* * *

*CNP = Command Navigation Program.

**Gunstars & Assault stars = Colonial equivalent of destroyers and frigates in the case of the former. Colonial equivalent of Cruisers and Marine Escort Ships in the case of the latter.

 **Author's Note:** As ever, Please, Please, Please let me know what you think! I really hope you all enjoyed this. I'd love to explore this idea further.


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